Delicious Deceit
by phantomworks
Summary: Joey's side of Pretty Little Liars. Not so difficultly talked into disguising himself as a girl, Joey must figure out how to keep others from finding out about his home life and reherse for what is perhaps the most important play of his life- all while trying to save his virginity from one stubborn CEO. Oh what to do, what to do!
1. Chapter 1

Phantomworks: hey! Sorry about the delay!

**Alice; she just got this back from her beta.**

Phantomworks: and then I had an interview to go to for… stuff.

**Alice; yep.**

Phantomworks; I don't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic.

Chapter 1

"Bye Grampa! I'll be back late today because I have drama club." A teen called over his shoulder. He shoved a slice of bread into his mouth as he trotted out of the game shop.

This teen has blonde bangs and raven black hair with a purple sheen that stands up on its own accord. His eyes are an odd combination of blue and red that mix into a pretty amethyst, which are placed on what seems to be the innocent face of a child. This teen's short stature complimented his 'innocent' look along with flawless skin.

However, this teen is _not_ the hero of our story.

Across town, a plate smashed against a stained wall and shattered to pieces, slivers of ceramics going everywhere. A blonde teen flinched and cursed at the yelling that followed after the crash. Light brown, almost golden eyes dart around the barren room, looking for his backpack. He had to get out of here before his dad came in to 'wake' him up.

Spying the black bag under a pile of dirty clothes, he snatched it up before running to his window. Throwing the pane open, he scrambled out of the frame onto the fire escape, making sure to close it after him. Just as the door to his room flew open, he raced down the rusted metal steps, breathing a sigh of relief.

At least he wouldn't be late today.

Meeting up with his friend, the rough-looking blonde called out a bright 'Good morning!' as the two started off down the road.

"What's with the rush today, Joey?" his shorter friend asked.

"I don' want d'tention again fer being late." Joey grimaced, wrinkling his nose. "One more tardy an' I'll be _livin'_ in that classroom."

At that, his friend started giggling, unable to help but find joy his blonde friend's trials.

"I'm serious Yug'!" the blonde defended. "Dose teacha's have it out fer me!"

"I'm sure they do, Joey, I'm sure they do." Yugi laughed lightly. "Hey, don't forget! Drama club after school!"

"I'd neva ferget that!" Joey ruffled his friend's hair, getting angry protests in reply. Grumpily, Yugi ran his fingers through his hair, trying to fix it into place. Joey just laughed at his friend's expense.

o0O0o

_Do not move. Do not move. Do not move!_ Joey repeated vigilantly to himself. He was currently sitting in one of the chairs available for the drama club members. Something had come up and Yugi was now late to the meeting. As such, Joey had been forbidden from leaving the room until after the voting had taken place.

What voting you ask? I'm so glad you did.

Each year, the drama club put on two plays, on in the fall and one in the spring. Before each play, members were nominated and chosen by vote for a part in the play. New members had to try out, but returning members like Joey and Yugi had already had characters before and had shown off their skills in previous plays.

Unfortunately, those skills had included Yugi being forced into a dress on more than one occasion. Joey had gotten lucky and hadn't been voted to play a female part in their all boys-play (Kabuki being the old-fashion term). However, that fact grated on his friend more than he could ever know and so he was forced to promise to not leave the room until his friend had cleared the figurative 'voting sharks'.

And so here he sat, legs crossed and mind straining away from anything to do with moving. And liquids. And water. Or waterfalls, either one. And lakes, and rivers and-!

_I NEED TO PEE!_ His face scrunched up in concentration as he tried with every fiber of his being to not think of the pressing needs of his bladder. His foot tapped furiously, trying to keep his mind somewhere else, but failed miserably. Shooting to his feet, he raced out of the room. _BATHROOM!_

Surely a small bathroom break couldn't mess up too much, right?

He came back in, bladder happily empty, only to pale as he saw the last vote drop into the ballot box.

Yugi was _so_ going to kill him.

o0O0o

"WHAT!?" his friend screamed.

"Sorry, Yug', but it was an unanimous vote!" Quickly, the blonde covered his ears, muffling the scream that followed.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL THEM?!" Yugi slammed his hands down on the table. "I DON'T WANT TO PLAY THE MAIN GIRL LEAD! I'm not any good at it! why do they force this on me?!"

"Because ya look like one?" the blonde shielded himself with his arms to defend against the weak punches, "Hey! Don't kill da messenger!"

Yugi paused, and then narrowed his gaze, "You said the vote was unanimous." He growled.

Joey swallowed thickly, suddenly wishing he could take back his words. Hurriedly, he worked to fix the situation. "Yeah, but I stepped out ta go tad a bathroom an' they voted wit' out me. Hey, I got ripped off too!"

Showing off his script, he pointed to his character who was, conveniently enough, a girl. Looking forlornly at the packet, he said, "Dis is what we get fer leavin' and comin' in late."

With a huffed, his friend dropped himself back down into his chair, whining, "Why do they keep getting me to do this? I can't act like a girl!"

"Me neither." Joey agreed, scowling at his script. In fact, comparing his practice at girl parts and that of Yugi's experience, he was so far behind, it would be like starting over as a freshman again. This was going to be the worst play of his life!

He was so caught up in his thoughts, that he didn't notice two figures walk up to their table until it was too late. Water splashed down onto his friend before either realized they had company. By the time they looked up, the damage was done.

"Oops. My. Bad." a snobby voice said.

"Yeah, your bad." Yugi hissed, amethyst eyes narrowing menacingly (read pouting), "What's the deal, Sennen?!"

Yami Sennen, the only other actor in drama club that was at the same level as Yugi when it came to getting in character. The two had yet to do a play together (ever since the Incident of freshman year) so when Sennen announced that he had the lead male role, Joey was mildly surprised.

The verbal abuse from Yugi afterwards though, was completely predicted and Joey ended up tuning most of it out. Instead, he lazily searched around for a certain brunette that he was sure was around here somewhere. The guy always followed Sennen around like a shadow. It's like he didn't have anything better to do with his time, though Joey knows better.

Once he locked eyes with shocking ice blue, Joey quickly turned his head away, tuning back into the argument between Yugi and Sennen.

"-probably a good thing. You can't act girly to save your life!"

Seeing his friend struggle for a comeback and not being one to let his friends flounder, Joey slammed his hands on the table, standing as he did and shouting, "We'll show you, Sennen! We'll be th'ones t'steal th'spotlight, you'll see!"

"Joey!" he heard a hiss, but he ignored it, eyes now focused on the CEO that had wandered over to stand at Sennen's side and stare down at him in a superior manner.

Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corp., sixth richest guy in the world and owner of one hot body with a mind to match. In any other case, he would be a real catch for a high school or even college girl, but due to his horrible personality, he'd managed to scare most of them off. He hated it when people tried to get close to him for money and hated it even more if they disobeyed his orders.

So Joey made sure to disobey/make jibes at him every second he could. He felt a small amount of pride at being the only one able to get some emotion other than pride or self-righteousness out of the brunette.

Like now.

"Oh, I'm so sure, Mutt. Do me proud and be the best _girl_ you can be! After all, I expect only the best from my actors." The CEO sneered.

Anger burned in him until the other's words registered in his head, and then he paled. "You're the-?"

"Director?" Kaiba's sneer grew into a smirk. "Yes. I am. Now, it's been a pleasure speaking with you, but I really must go."

Turning with a flourish of his white trench coat, Kaiba walked off, Sennen following with a cocky, "See you at practice, Mutou."

There was a moment of silence before Joey cursed loudly, punching his fist into the table. The two of them took some time to calm down and Yugi took time to clean up and unknowingly fill Joey in on the parts of Sennen's conversation that Joey had missed. Then the two sat silently again, the air tense with depression.

"What're we gonna do? A performance wit' a talent scout could make 'r break your career!" Joey exclaimed, setting his chin on his folded arms in melancholy.

"We're toast." Yugi sighed, slumping into his chair dejectedly.

"…Why don' we go get some action? Dat's sure t'cheer ya up." The blonde suggested. It would definitely cheer him up. A pretty girl with blue eyes and short brown hair would really brighten his day right about now. Yugi laughed at his absolutely serious comment before quieting again.

"No, Joey, we have to practice. Besides, the girls around here are either too easy or only have eyes for Sennen. They're no fun anymore." That was true for Yugi, but not so with Joey. Most of the girls he managed to ask out, liked him for his thuggish looks.

When they found out he was _ex-_gang, they dropped him like an STD infected condom.

Depressed once again, Joey protested, "Yud', dere's no way dat we'll practice enough t'act like girls unless we become 'em. It's hopeless!"

The blonde fiddled with the pop-tab on his soda, not seeing the look of revelation on his friends face until Yugi exclaimed, "Joey, that's it!"

"What is?" Joey asked, taking a swallow of his fizzy drink.

"We'll become girls!"

Joey literally choked. Pounding his chest and coughing to clear his throat, he took a few deep breaths before reacting verbally, "ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

Jumping to his feet, he gave his friend a deadly serious stare, stubbornly defiant. "For your information, I _like_ being a guy! I like my-!"

"No!" Yugi interrupted quickly, a look of worry crossing his face. "That's not what I mean. What I mean is that we should dress like them, walk like them and talk like them! Not the actual changing part!"

Both shuddered at the thought and quickly covered their crotches.

"But still, Yug', that's suicidal! What if anyone sees us?!"

"Then we can blame it on a dare or losing a bet." His friend reasoned, persuading the blonde into his insane plan. "Joey, do you really want to be humiliated by Seto because of your lack of skill?"

That. Was a _low_ blow.

Already, he could see the stupid CEO standing over him, that superior look on his face and laughing at his expense as all of the cast members pointed and laughed. All because of Kaiba and his stupid challenge.

Growling, Joey ordered lowly, "Yug', let's go. I have t'talk t'Serenity." Storming off, the blonde didn't even look to see if his friend was following. His mind was already set on one thing and one thing only.

Become the best girl he could ever be, and then sucker punch Seto Kaiba in his pretty little mouth.

o0O0o

Phantomworks; and there's chapter one!

**Alice; so stop yelling at her to post it!**

Phantomworks; seriously! There's like, twenty of you asking when I would post this. It's like the world's going to end if I don't.

**Alice; it will.**

Phantomworks; really?... I wanna try it.

**Alice; please don't.**


	2. Chapter 2

Phantomworks: yay! Chapter 2.

**Alice: nice.**

Phantomworks; I don't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic.

Chapter 2

"SERENITY!" Joey yelled as he ran into his sister's home. Their mother was away on a month-long business trip and his sister had successfully talked her 'baby sitter' into getting a little relaxation time with a couple of hot springs tickets. With all parental authorities out of the way, the two siblings were allowed to see each other much more often.

Like now.

"_What_ Joey?" Serenity yelled back, pressing her cell phone into her shoulder. Her other hand was occupied with a jar of bright pink nail polish and her toes were carefully kept away from her sheets.

Didn't want to have to clean out nail polish from her blankets; y'know.

"I need ya t'turn me int'a girl!" Joey said, completely serious.

She stared at him for five seconds straight. "Who are you and what have you done with my brother?"

"I'm serious, Ren!" Joey threw his hands up.

"Um…" the redhead caught sight of Yugi behind her brother. "Mind telling me what this is about?"

"Sennen and Kaiba made fun of us because we got the girl leads." The small teen said. "Mind helping us out a bit?"

"Do I get to play dress up?" Serenity asked casually.

"Um… sure?" both boys said, uneasy.

Her lips curled into a cheshire grin, adding to their unease. With a happy, deceptive grin, she chirped, "I'm in."

o0O0o

"The nerve of him! To think that he would say it was my fault _he_ spilled my drink!"

Seto rolled his eyes at his cousin's rant and order from the small town diner's menu before replying, "Well, you did bump into him."

Yami took a minute to order his own meal, and then continued to argue. "No, he ran into me!"

"He ran into you… while sitting down?" Seto pointed out.

Silence was his answer.

Sighing, Seto ran a hand through his hair, "I'm just pointing out the obvious, Yami. It's kind of hard for a person to run into you when they aren't moving."

Yami glared at the salt shaker, "Well it's still his fault. Why does he have to be in the play anyway? Why does he keep choosing girl roles? It's not like he's any good at them!"

"He doesn't pick them Yami. It was put to a vote and he just happened to not be there at the time so he was nominated and picked. I'm sure that even he has _some_ dignity." The lady came over with their food at that moment and there was silence as the two started eating.

"He better. He is my rival after all." Yami tore off a bite of chicken angrily.

"Rival?" Seto took a small sip of his hot coffee, hoping to relieve some of his pent up stress with a healthy dose of caffeine.

"Yes, rival, ever since that _disaster_, he's become my rival in everything from acting to school –even girls!" Yami stuffed three French fires into his mouth.

"I hardly believe that someone who looks so innocent could have any luck with girls." Seto said, amused.

"No! It's true! He uses those 'innocent' looks to trick them into his bed! They go willingly, thinking that it won't go that far because he's 'innocent'! He has exactly half of the girl population under his control!" Yami's eyes blazed in jealousy.

Seto lifted an eyebrow, "And how many do you have?"

"The other half… your point?"

"… Never mind. Why don't you just enjoy what you have?"

"Because they're all too willing. It's not fun anymore. All the school girls are just too… 'normal'." Yami groaned as he sipped his soda though a straw.

Seto almost groaned out loud. Didn't his cousin see where the problem lay? If he wanted to 'win' against Mutou, why didn't he just…? "Who said that they have to be at school?"

Yami thought for a moment before his eyes widened, "That's like cheating, Seto! … I think I like it." the tri-color-haired teen smirked. At that moment, two customers walked into the diner. Both boys turned absently to see who it was and simultaneously gasped.

The two newcomers were both women, one definitely taller than the other. The taller of the two had waist length blonde hair with a slight layered look around her head. She was dressed in a blue turtle neck shirt and a darker blue skirt with slipper-like shoes on her feet. Where the skirt didn't hide her legs, smooth skin gleamed in the light of the diner. Her eyes twinkled happily, a honey color that strangely reminded Seto of-

"Mutt?" Seto murmured under his breath. But, it couldn't be Wheeler. The mutt would never degrade himself so much as to-

"What was that?" Yami asked, entranced by the other woman.

The shorter had long raven black hair about waist length as well with two braids in one side. Straight golden bangs framed her delicate pale face and went to about her shoulders, some clipped up to keep them out of her face. She wore a pinkish-purple sundress with a slightly darker jacket to defend her from the cold. She too wore slipper-like shoes, each with a little bow on them. Yet her eyes were the most beautiful thing about her, a sparkling amethyst shown calm, shy joy.

"Nothing." Seto muttered. He could tell that his cousin was too entranced to listen too much.

"Good. Hey Seto, these two don't look like they're from around here." Yami said, a dreamy look in his eyes. The CEO knew that look well and tried to cut his cousin off before it was too late.

"Yami, I highly doubt that they aren't!" Seto defended, clutching his coffee closer to him. He'd yet to touch his burger and his coffee was cooling quickly. If Yami chose now of all times to go over and flirt, he was going to-!

"Great, let's go welcome them." His cousin flashed a quick mischievous grin before grabbing Seto's arm and attempting to drag the brunette after him. Grumbling under his breath, Seto set his coffee down with a forlorn look and allowed Yami to drag him over to where the Not-Mutt and her friend was sitting.

"Hello, ladies," Yami greeted, "we haven't seen you around. Are you new?"

_Smooth, Yami. Smooth._ Seto thought sarcastically as he looked over the blonde more closely.

The two women turned and their calm faces turned to horror as they saw who had addressed them. They quickly turned back around, whispering amongst themselves. As the whispering continued, Yami got impatient, "I'm still here!"

The two flinched. The shorter turned in her seat, carefully keeping her legs crossed and her dress close to her form. The other turned more nervously, not quite all the way, whimpering a soft, "Yugi!"

Blue eyes widened marginally as Seto recognized the soft whisper. The blonde hadn't thought of masking his –yes_, his -_ in the slightest. Even the name that the blonde had whispered had been obvious. Yami couldn't be that _stupid_, right-?

"Hi, Yuki Minato. Pleasure to meet you." 'Her' bell voice broke his thoughts. They shook hands as the blonde behind 'her' turned back around and slumped onto the counter. 'She' hid 'her' face in 'her' hands. Seto could almost guess what was going through 'her' head.

"Yami Sennen, the pleasure is mine." Yami said, smiling brightly.

Scratch that. Yami could be _very_ stupid.

Deciding to play along for kicks and giggles, Seto took his seat beside the blonde who shrunk away from him. Testing her temper, the CEO reached out, putting his arm around the blonde's shoulders and pulled her closer. The girl squeaked in surprise and struggle immediately against his grip. Not exactly anger, but entertaining none-the-less.

Leaning close, he whispered in her ear, "Hey, don't worry. I won't bite… much."

The effects were instantaneous. The blonde struggled harder, going so far as to throw a few punches at him which he was barely able to dodge. Surprised by the sudden intensity, Seto let go. Before he could blink, the blonde had raced into the restroom. The _men's_ restroom.

If that wasn't hint enough, he didn't know what was.

Her friend looked after her, quietly excused herself, and stomped after her friend. Both men waited patiently where they were.

"So…" Yami started, "Who's the blonde?"

"I don't know." Seto lied, inwardly smirking to himself. "But I like her."

O0O0o

"Joey! What was that out there?!" 'Yuki' demanded as soon as she shoved the men's restroom door behind her.

"I dunno, Yug'! I jest panicked!" the blonde said, wringing her hands together.

"You can't 'just panic' when we're on stage, Joey!" the raven haired woman said. "You have to stay in character!"

"But, it was _him_! _Them_!" the blonde nearly shouted, close to hysterics. "Yug', I can't do dis! Not wit' _him_ out dere! He'll see right t'rough me!"

"Not if you don't _let_ him!" Yuki put her hands on her hips and stared the blonde down. "You started this; you've got to finish it."

"_You_ started this!" the blonde protested.

"_You_ took us to Serenity." The raven-haired teen countered easily.

"Wha-but-you-!"

"Expect the unexpected, Joey." Yuki said. "Besides, we just have to make it a few minutes. Don't you want to see the look on their face? Have the satisfaction of pulling a fast one on _Seto Kaiba?_"

What was once a clear choice in the blonde's mind now warred with other thoughts. While she really, really, _really_ wanted to leave, the thought of pulling a prank on _the_ Seto Kaiba was almost too much to pass up. Indecision made her fidget restlessly.

Well, a few minutes couldn't hurt, right?

Taking a deep breath, she exhaled slowly, calming down. "Okay. I'm ready."

"Good."

And with that, Yuki dragged her friend from the bathroom, waving to a male walking by as they past. The man looked at them, then to the men's bathroom… then slowly walked away.

"Sorry about that, Josephine is a little scared of men." Yuki said, nudging her friend back to their seats.

"Josephine, eh? Mind if I call you Josi?" Seto asked, leaning closer, but not too close so that he didn't scare her again.

"Y-yes I mind!" Josi's voice was a bit deeper than Yuki's, but Yuki's was very high –sort of childish even. It fit their looks though.

"Hmm, too bad." Seto hummed, "Besides, 'Josephine' is a mouthful."

"Hey!" Josi objected.

"What? It is. You can't deny that." Seto continued. "Unless there's something else you'd like me to call you?"

"Josephine."

"Hmm… no." the CEO had the utmost pleasure of seeing the blonde's features tighten as her hands balled into fists. Diffusing the situation, he offered a hand. "I think we started off on the wrong foot. My name is Seto Kaiba. A pleasure to meet you, Josephine."

"L-like-wise?" Josi replied questioningly, not following the sudden subject change. In the first few minutes, she'd already been pinned as 'scared of men', had her name made fun of and now the brunette was going to act like nothing happened?

Oh man, this was going to be a long 'few minutes'.

o0O0o

Phantomworks: and there you have it.

**Alice: what, no 'all dogs go to heaven' spiel? **

Phantomworks; I couldn't figure out how to put it in, so no.

**Alice: aw, it would have been funny!**

Phantomworks; then look at this instead.! And please review!

Omake

"Expect the unexpected, Joey." Yuki said. "Besides, we just have to make it a few minutes. Don't you want to see the-?"

The bathroom door opened, a man walking in to do his business. When he caught sight of the two girls talking in the _men's_ bathroom, he paused. Then checked the sign on the door, then looked back to the girls.

Silence…

"Do you _mind_?" Yuki huffed, crossing her arms.

Shocked out of his paralysis, the man turned tail and ran. He didn't need to go that bad anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

Phantomworks: here's chapter 3!

**Alice; it aligns with PLL ch 3 and 4.**

Phantomworks; I don't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic.

Chapter 3

Within minutes, 'Yuki' had made some sort of excuse for leaving and the two rushed off. Seto didn't doubt for a second the identity of the blonde, nor of the raven-haired 'lady', yet he wasn't about to tell Yami his discovery.

Let the egotistical jerk learn a lesson or two about running into things without a second thought.

On the other hand, Seto was mildly impressed. To think that the mutt would have the balls to do something like this, but the main question was why?

Did the blonde think he could pull a fast one on Seto? Plausible, yet that wouldn't explain how the two knew they would be here. Unless they had inside information, no one would guess that the two hottest guys at Domino High would come to a dingy diner like this. So that was out of the question.

But what other reason could there be? And once the two saw his cousin and him, why didn't they run off and avoid them? Seto was not blind to Yami's and Mutou's rivalry and he was positive that the mutt wouldn't go looking for trouble at a time like this. Nothing made sense.

He would need some research.

"Isn't Yuki hot?" Yami's dreamy sigh cut into his thoughts.

"Excuse me?" Seto fought hard to keep himself from laughing. Oh, if Yami only knew.

"I want to see her again immediately." Yami suddenly stood.

"But isn't she Mutou's cousin or something?" Seto asked, running through his auditory memory.

"Drat. You're right… does that mean she's off limits?"

"Do you care how Mutou reacts?" the brunette countered.

"Not in the least." Yami stated simply. "…"

Sliding his hand into his pocket, he dug out a high tech phone. "I'm going to call her."

"You got her number already?"

"…"

"You didn't even think of that, did you?" Seto asked, raising a brow.

"Seto~?" Yami smiled at him innocently. "Think you could do me a favor?"

Sighing, Seto pulled out his own phone and quickly typed in a search through his own personal database. "I have Mutou's number, but not Minato's."

"What?! There's something that you _can't get_!?" Yami's eyes went wide.

"It's not that I can't get it, I just don't feel like having my men stalk a young female in order to gain enough information to locate her phone number." Seto shot his cousin a glare. "You can either call Mutou or not call at all."

_Let him deal with_ _**that**__!_ Seto thought smugly as he saw Yami contemplate his choice. The brunette was forcing him to choose between calling his rival and never knowing more about his mystery 'girl'.

Besides, the CEO knew that it would be good for Sennen in the long run. He and Mutou might actually find something in common.

Or not.

"All right, fine. Give it to me." Yami demanded, holding up his phone. Rattling off the number, Seto set back to watch the teen's reaction and possibly hear that of the one on the receiving end of the call.

Two rings passed, then a begrudging, _"Hello?"_

"Why, hello, Mutou." Yami smirked devilishly, his eyes trained on the wall as he spoke. Both teens could just imagine the other's face at having Sennen call.

"_Sennen?!"_ a screech rang over the line. _"How the **** did you get this number?!"_

"Money and fame can get you a lot in this world."

"_Tch-! Should've known it'd be through your dad's connections."_ Well, he was wrong on that part, but it was the principle that matters. _"Why are you calling?"_

"Oh, I just wanted you to know that I met your cousin today down at the diner. We had a wonderful time and are going to meet up again next Friday."

Seto blinked. Since when had Yami come up with that idea? Moreover, how was he going to get 'Yuki' to agree to it?

"_W-WHAT?!"_

"Yes, you really shouldn't leave that girl alone, even if she is related to you."

_More than related…_ Seto thought, but Yami was already ending the call.

"Well, I'm done bragging so I'll be off. Ciao!" _click!_

Yami was grinning so brightly that Seto almost had to shield his eyes. His cousin really took bullying rivals to a new level… and enjoyed it way too much.

"What about you?" the crimson-eyed teen asked pointedly.

"What about me?" Seto huffed.

"Aren't you going to call that Wheeler guy and brag about your new lady friend?" Yami shot him a lecherous look. "I saw the way you were hanging on her. You like her. You can date her _and_ infuriate your rival at the same time!"

"He isn't my rival." Seto crossed his arms.

"You know what I mean. Kill two birds with one stone and all that. It still applies." The teen shrugged. "I called Mutou, you call Wheeler."

"Ugh. Fine." Seto grumbled as he pulled out his phone. "If it will get you to shut up…"

"It may… or may not." His cousin replied cheekily.

Shooting his cousin a glare, the brunette quickly dialed the memorized number into his phone. The number was for the home of Serenity Wheeler. No, he did not normally call the Mutt's sister. He just happened to see her number once and happened to have perfect photographic memory.

Yeah…

"_Hello?"_ the Mutt's voice startled him. He'd been planning to make a show of speaking to Serenity for Yami. The CEO hadn't expected that his blonde would be visiting his sister or would even pick up the phone.

"Mutt? I thought this was Serenity Wheel- oh… never mind. That just makes this easier."

"_Kaiba?! How da-?!"_

"Connections Mutt." True enough for the situation.

"_Rrrrrgh! **** you!"_

Seto smirked, "Likewise. Anyway, I'm calling to see if Josi is there."

There was a pause, then, _"Who?"_

_Who? Doesn't he remember coming in less than an hour ago? Unless Josi wasn't…_ Shaking his head, Seto continued. "Oh, just a girl I met today. Apparently, you two have not met yet, but I advise you to stay away from her. Josi is mine."

Without waiting for another puzzling reply, Seto hung up, shooting Yami a look. "There, happy?"

"Immensely." Yami flashed him a triumphant grin. Abruptly, his gaze flew to his watch as he checked the time. "Wow, that late already? Sorry Seto, I've got some work to do."

"Homework or work-work?" Seto asked.

"Aren't they the same?" Yami sighed, but flung his backpack onto his shoulder none-the-less. "I'll see you tomorrow at school!"

"…" Seto just watched as his cousin ran out of the diner until he was out of sight. Suddenly, realization dawned on him. "S***, HE LEFT ME WITH THE BILL!"

o0O0o

Phantomworks: and end.

**Alice: that was rather short.**

Phantomworks: it's as long as or longer than PLL ch 3 and 4 put together.

**Alice: touché.**

Phantomworks: please review!


	4. Chapter 4

Friday rolled around and (thanks to certain connections with the Mutt's sister) Seto now had a date planned with Josi later that night. The only problem was that he wasn't sure where to take the blonde.

Where did two guys typically go? Or rather a guy and a 'girl'? Would the Mutt be so into character that he wouldn't like arcades? Or was he still man enough to hate… whatever it was that girls liked to do?

All through the school day, Seto thought of such things, but he did not _agonize_ over them. To put that much emotion in it would cost him his cool and collected CEO image. So he didn't pay it too much attention, didn't even ask Yami what he should do.

Even if it was his first date, no one else needed to know. Especially not the countless number of girls he had previously turned down.

Now, what to do with the Mutt…

The brunette was still wondering what he should do when he stepped into the club room that day to find Yami and Mutou glaring at each other with the passion of a thousand suns. If only it wasn't anger. Then he wouldn't have to break it up.

"Deal?" he heard Yami ask. Face-palming, Seto silently pleaded that it wasn't a bet between the two again.

"Deal!" Mutou shook on it and whatever 'deal' they had set was sealed.

Just then, the Mutt came in, looking between the two teens holding hands. Confusion played across his face as he asked, "Hey, Yug'. What'er ya doin' with Sennen?"

"Nothing Joey." The smaller teen pulled away. Silently, Seto watched this all from the sidelines. He didn't see the point in getting in the middle of this.

"Are ya sure? Cause somethin' seemed t'be goin' on." The blonde was more observant than Seto gave him credit for.

"Don't worry about that jerk, Joey. He's insignificant." Blue eyes blinked at the scathing comment. Wow, didn't know Mutou had it in him.

During his split second of inattentiveness, a fight broke out between the two near identical teens and before he knew it, they were racing out the door and down the hall. Staring after them, he briefly wondered if they could go through the first script reading without them.

But with Mutou and his cousin being the two leading characters, he highly doubted that. Sighing, he turned to the Mutt. "Hey."

"GYAH!" the blonde jumped two feet in the air and spun around, staring at the brunette with wide eyes. "****! How do ya _do_ dat?!"

"Do what?"

"Freakin' sneak up on me!"

"… I've been here the whole time." Seto deadpanned.

"No way…" Wheeler looked downright shocked. Was he really that unnoticeable? He thought that the white trench coat would have stood out even in the drama room.

Shaking his head with a sigh, Seto turned to leave, grabbing a sign as he left. "Tell Mutou that practice is canceled. Those two will be running around for a while and I don't like wasting time. Practice will be moved to next Monday."

"Yer jest nervous cause y'got a date tonight!" Wheeler jibed.

Pausing, he turned back. "How do you know of that, _Mutt_?"

"Um…" he watched fear and determination play over the blonde's face before the teen spoke again. "Sis told me. That Josi chick, right?"

"Right. So you better stay away from her." Seto warned uselessly. Despite the frivolousness, he was not one to break his character, even in a game like this. He loved games, but more than that, he loved to win.

And the Mutt was the prize.

"Wouldn't touch her." He heard the blonde grumble, but ignored it. Placing the sign in front of the drama club door stating the change of plans, he walked quickly down the hallway, making it to the door in record time. Cell phone already at his ear, he called for his limo, which pulled up just as he reached the curb.

Without another word, he climbed in and told the chaffuer to drive. He only had two hours until his date with Josi and he had a number of things to figure out. The what, where and how were among that number, but his priority was at the forefront of his mind.

What was he going to wear?

o0O0o

"Shoot, Yug'! How far'd'ya run?!" Joey grumbled to himself as he raced down the halls. He had no clue which way the teens had gone, relying on sheer luck to get him to his destination. With his incredible luck, it usually worked.

This time was no different.

Meeting Sennen in the middle of a corridor, Joey fell into an attack stance the he remembered from his gang days. Go for the eyes to blind them. Then the groin to immobilize them. After that, the aim is the heart if you have a knife, the head if you have a gun and the neck if you don't.

His enemies didn't stand long against him.

Instead of reacting, Sennen only smirked and pointed to the bathroom down the hall. "He's down there. I didn't hurt him… much."

Eyes widening, Joey shot off, brushing past Sennen roughly before he disappeared into the bathroom. Spinning around a corner, the blonde called, "Yug'? You okay?"

"That jerk!" the small teen sounded like he was about to cry. Sensing the other needed a moment, Joey stayed silently, trying to think of ways to get back at Sennen for this.

Then his thoughts drifted to how much his legs hurt from his sister's 'Girl Training'. Who in the world walks on heels for six hours straight?! Or carried twenty-pounds worth of useless stuff in a purse?!

"Come on. Let's just get to the club meeting." Yugi's words broke him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, it's been moved t'next Monday 'cause you 'nd Sennen were 'late'." Joey said rather happily. He hadn't looked over his script at all and probably wouldn't get a chance for a while.

"How late?"

"Well, half da meetin's ova so… half da meetin' late." The blonde counted on his fingers, as if trying to find the real amount of time before giving up. His friend face palmed in frustration.

Suddenly, another thought occurred to Joey. When was he supposed to meet up with Kaiba? The same time as Yugi was to meet up with Sennen, maybe? They should probably call his sister to make sure…

"Hey, what time's yer date wit' Sennen?"

"**** it!"


	5. Chapter 5

Phantomworks: sorry about being late last week. I was just about to post it…

**Alice; and she got sick.**

Phantomworks: I have no excuse. I don't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic.

Chapter 5

"Serenity…" Josi whined. "Do I hafta?"

"Have to." The red head corrected, "And yes. Mr. Kaiba already double checked to make sure my half-sister was getting ready."

"But I don' _wanna_ date him!" the blonde grumbled as Serenity fixed her hair, brushing it out and making sure the pins were in place for her extensions. "Can't I just… not show up?"

"No." Serenity dead-panned, giving a swift yank to Josi's hair. "Just like you have an honor code, girls have a dating code. That includes going to any date agreed to unless there is an _actual_ problem. You don't have one. You're going."

"…" the blonde fiddled with the short hem of her dress. It was a golden color, light at the top and growing into a dark hue at the bottom. Sequences sparkled through-out the dress, making it impossible to ignore her. All around, it looked like something a hooker in her neighborhood would wear.

"Can I switch dresses?" she asked.

"No!" the redhead hissed. "You've already changed three times!"

"But you always put me in somethin' really short 'nd sparkly!" Josi protested.

"To show off your legs and get Kaiba to notice you!" Serenity countered. "And it's _something_."

"But I don' _want_ him to notice me!"

"You will be noticed 'nd you will like it!" her sister exclaimed sharply. "And it's _don't_. You are a fine lady 'nd you will _speak as such_!"

"You don't!"

"_I'm_ not going on a date!"

"Joey." Yuki said from the doorway. "Just do as she says. We have to meet Sennen and Kaiba in less than an hour. When we get there, just tell him off and leave. Then you won't have to wear a dress at all."

"… 'kay…" the blonde sighed, defeated. With her sister against her, there was no way that she wouldn't be forced to go through with it. It was better to meet the stupid CEO head on and get the date over with than to keep carrying on. The longer it took, the more chance there was of the super-genius figuring her out and using this as blackmail.

Besides, if she did it fast enough, she might get home before her favorite show came on.

"Do I hafta- have to- wear high heels?" she begged. Yeah, she'd practiced for hours on end to walk in them right (and hurt her poor feet), but that didn't mean she wanted to put her skills into practice!

"Yes." Serenity said, plopping the thin heels down in the blonde's lap. "You're wearing them. And don't even _think_ about askin' t'change them."

Heaving a sigh, the blonde bent to slide one foot in, slowly to keep from tangling her toes in the criss-cross straps that rode up her calf. Once one foot was in and buckled, the next followed and she got to her feet, struggling not to stumble.

"Still wobbly, but it'll do." Serenity commented, looking over the blonde. "What do you think, Yuki?"

"For three hours of prep-work, 'she' looks amazing." Yuki noted. "Don't know why it took so long though. It only took an hour for me."

"You already look like a girl." The girl deadpanned before turning back to her sister. "So how do you feel, Josi?"

"Almost ready, just one more question." She turned around and looked over her shoulder. "Does this dress make my butt look big?"

o0O0o

Seto tapped his fingers against the white table. He and Josi were to meet in the food court of Domino Mall where they would then proceed to a clothing store and jewelry shop combo. There, he was expected to spend seemingly obscene amounts of money on dresses and shiny things for the 'girl' of his dreams. According to Mokuba, girls liked stuff like that.

The brunette didn't doubt for a second that Josi would have a much different opinion.

Unless, of course, she was _used_ to this sort of thing, then he may have a problem…

"Hello." A chipper voice greeted him.

"You're late." He stated, looking up only for his breath to catch in his throat.

Long rivers of liquid gold trailed over tan shoulders, on which hung a most becoming dress. The color blended with her skin and the sequences were so small that he might have missed them if he wasn't as observant as he was. Eyes traveling downwards, he noted, had it been on any other person, the dress would have stopped just above her knees. Yet on Josi, it felt a bit shorter, showing off her legs in a way that was pleasing to the eye.

_Wheeler makes a good girl_. Seto decided as he stared.

"Sorry. I would have been here on time, but my… half-sister insisted on helping me get ready." Her voice wavered, but held strong, sticking to proper speech and keeping a light air. "You know how siblings are."

"Of course." Seto agreed, thinking of how much coaching Mokuba had given him. For some reason, it seemed backwards in his mind. Wasn't the _older_ brother supposed to give dating advice? "But, half-sister? I never knew Wheeler had another sister."

"Neither did he." She laughed. "I only recently set out to find my real father. My mother had been a free spirit once upon a time and has only just settled down with a husband. I thought it was about time to find my own roots as she laid down hers."

"I see." Seto had to say, he was impressed. Her story was quite complex and told with complete confidence. Yet, all he had to do was look for her mother or her supposed 'step-father' to find that there was absolutely no basis for her claim.

Standing, he offered his hand. "Last time, I don't think we properly met. I am Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corporation."

"I know of you, Mr. Kaiba." She smiled, taking his hand. "Josephine Walker, pleasure to meet you."

At the irony of her last name, he smiled before withdrawing his hand. "Shall we go?"

"Actually, I have something to tell you." She said, growing serious. "I don't know what you're playing at, asking me here, but I have to say I'm not interested."

"Not interested?" those were not the words he had been expecting.

"In dating." She clarified. "I don't mean to lead you on, but I came today to tell you this. I have only come to town to reconnect with family, nothing more. I have no interest in dating you."

"I think you misunderstand." He said, a plan forming in his mind. If he puppy wanted to play hard to get, he would play along. "I didn't ask you out tonight for a date."

"You… didn't?" oh, she looked so adorable with her nose wrinkled in confusion.

"No. My cousin put me up to this, saying that I don't get out near as much as I should." He lied smoothly. "He suggested that I call you to get out more often. I don't want to date you."

"What, am I not good enough?!" she snapped, falling right into his trap.

"I'm sure you are a fine woman. I'm just not looking for anyone." He smiled. "I would rather be at home now. My favorite show starts in half an hour as it is."

"Oh no!" she growled. "You are not walking out on me! That's what I do!"

"Weren't you just saying that you were going to?" he asked. "You were speaking as if to leave."

"No I wasn't!" she protested. "I just wanted to make sure that you didn't get the wrong idea!"

"Rest assured, I won't." he crossed his arms.

"Good." She copied his move. The two then ended up in a stare-off, the rest of the mall populace slowing down to see what was going on. Growing self-conscious, Seto glared at the on-lookers, keeping them walking.

"Going with the guess that I'm not leaving any time soon, shall we move to a different location?" he suggested.

"Fine." She relaxed from her stance, throwing her hair over her shoulder. "What do you have in mind?"

"… a clothing store?" he suggested vaguely. Honestly, Seto just wanted to head to a book electronics store, but he hardly expected Josi to appreciate either of those ideas.

"A _clothing_ store?" she wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Why would we go there?"

"Girls like clothing." He stated.

"Who told you _that_?!"

"My… younger… brother?" man, that sounded lame.

"Your younger brother has no idea how women work." Josi said. "Yes, some girls do like clothing stores, but not all of them. How about I show you just how wrong he is?"

"Mokuba is rarely wrong." He answered instantly, before considering. "But I could give it a try. I have a feeling that you're going to force me if I don't."

"You're very smart. That's why I like brunettes like you." She grinned, oblivious to the light blush that stained his cheeks at her words. "Besides, why would I model clothes for you when you're just undressing me with your eyes?"

"Touché. So where do you suggest?"

"Hmm…" she looked around, trying to decide before her face lit up. She pointed, "There!"

Following her finger, he raised an eyebrow. _Videogames? Really puppy?_

"A gaming type?" he questioned.

"Er… I play… in my free time." She mumbled, realizing her mistake. Yet she didn't let him point it out, instead grabbing his wrist and dragging him through the crowd. "Besides, you're _Seto Kaiba_! You're probably going to have more fun in a store filled with games than watching me model clothes."

"Probably." He answered, even if he thought having his puppy model some _other_ types of clothing would bring a more… pleasurable outcome.

"I'm right and you know it." She stuck out her tongue before dragging him into the store. Immediately, she gushed over the newest gaming systems and some of the more 'guy-ish' games. Honestly, if she were with anyone else, she would have been exposed a long time ago.

As it was, she didn't even know he knew.

And, liking the conversation that wasn't fighting or belittling the other, Kaiba decided that he would keep it this way, at least, for a little longer.

o0O0o

Phantomworks: Dragon Training will be out tomorrow.

**Alice: hopefully.**

Phantomworks: haven't actually written it yet. My motivation is down, but I'll try hard!

**Alice: please review.**


	6. Chapter 6

Phantomworks: yay! Another chapter.

**Alice: whoo!**

Phantomworks: I don't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic.

Chapter 6

"Thanks for tonight, Seto." Josi grinned as she climbed out of his limo. Dragging several bags of purchases after her, she gave him a shy wave. "I had a great time."

"As did I." Seto let a small smile brighten his face. "Perhaps I should let my cousin talk me into stuff more often."

"As long as you are ready for the consequences." Golden eyes twinkled with mirth as she closed the door. Waltzing up the walk to the door, she turned once to look over her shoulder and blow him a kissing before disappearing into the quaint house.

"Oh, Mutt." Seto groaned. "You have no idea what you do to me."

Their evening had gone rather well. The blonde had kept up quite a good act, the only suspicious thing was that 'she' dragged him to every guy store there was in the mall and avoided the clothing and jewelry stores like they were the plague. Any other guy might have questioned it, but he didn't.

Instead, he allowed himself to buy those items that she looked at with large, puppy dog eyes or those that she outright said that she'd like to eventually buy. So he spoiled his puppy a bit, what was the big deal? The smile that he got in return was more than enough payment for the money spent.

Especially when he caught her staring at a decidedly manly watch a few seconds longer than anything else. She hadn't said a word, didn't even point it out. In fact, the brunette was sure that she would have walked away from it if he hadn't of bought it and handed it to her. The way she blushed, sputtered, and tried to give it back was adorable.

Eventually, he talked her into keeping it by giving it to her brother, yeah, her 'brother' Joey.

"Seto!" A black blur tackled him to the ground when he entered his home.

"Guh!" Seto grunted as he fell backwards. Large gray eyes stared up at him demandingly.

"How'd it go?! Did you have fun? Did she have fun? Who did you take out anyway? What does she look like!?"

"Mokuba!" Seto gasped. "Air!"

"Huh? Oh! Right, sorry!" scrambling off of his brother, the raven-haired pre-teen helped the CEO off of the ground. Putting his hands on his hips, the younger stomped his foot, ordering, "Now answer my questions!"

"It went fine. Josi quite liked the mall and we had a great time. I had… fun." Seto realized with a start that it was true. It was strange that an evening with the ill-tempered, foul-mouthed Mutt could be categorized as 'fun'. But his alter ego could be quite charming when she wanted to be.

He almost didn't want this game to end.

"Tell me more about her!" Mokuba demanded, seeing a small smile nip at his brother's lips. Anyone who could get his brother to smile had to be amazing indeed.

"All right, fine." Seto agreed, "But then afterwards, you have to get ready for bed and I need to get some work done. Deal?"

"Deal!" the pre-teen squealed as he dragged his brother over to the couch so that they could be comfortable as he pried every last detail about the night from his brother. If it weren't for the fact that he wasn't allowed to date, mainly due to kidnappers and gold diggers, Mokuba might not care about his brother's love life. As it was, a date was something that rarely happened in the Kaiba household.

And Mokuba was going to get every last, juicy detail.

o0O0o

"Hey guys! I'm ho~me!" Josi called as she closed the door behind her. Excitedly, she added "AND I GOT A PS3!"

Rounding the corner of the hall, she popped her head in, showing off the obscene amount of 'gifts' she'd gotten from the CEO. It was like Christmas had come early! Spying Yugi staring dejectedly at the floor, she rushed over to him. "Yous'll _neva_ guess what happen'd!

Yugi gave her a dubious look, "You talked Kaiba into buying you your early Christmas list."

"Wha-? How d'ja know?" Josi looked comically shocked and deflated that she couldn't share the news since her friend already knew. Honestly, it took all the fun out of it! How was she supposed to get her kicks and giggles _now_?!

"Good guess." Yugi said, eyeing the sacks that the blonde had yet to put down. "So that was your plan to get him to give up?"

"Eh?" the blonde looked up from rifling through the sacks to get to the PS3, along with grabbing her real clothes. She'd brought them along with her in her magic purse. Magic because you could pull out just about anything from it.

She swore there was an inter-dimensional portal in there.

"You know, get Kaiba to give up on you so that we don't get caught or worse?" Yugi asked, half-scared to tell his friend he had failed, half-suspicious that the blonde had failed as well.

Honey-brown eyes grew wide and she stood abruptly, "WHAT?!"

Yugi leaned back into the chair for safety, "Um, I take that as a 'no'?"

Cursing all the way to the bathroom and while changing as well, Joey came back in only to sulk beside the bags of material goods. He didn't even _open_ another sack, just staring at them in disgust.

Really, how could he have forgotten _that_!? That was the whole reason that he went in the first place! Of course, he guessed their little chat at the beginning of the date could have counted, but then why would Se- Kaiba go and buy him –er –Josi all those gifts? And that thing he said at the end?

"_Perhaps I should let my cousin talk me into stuff more often."_

"_As long as you are ready for the consequences."_

That was practically and _invitation_ for another date! And he'd blown a kiss! Yeah, it was just to keep in the act, but now that he thought of it, it was incredibly stupid of him to have done that. No way did Moneybags think Josi wasn't interested now!

Grumbling to himself, Joey eyed the bags, thinking back to the last store they'd entered, a jewelry store. S- Kaiba had actually dragged him there, for what reason, Joey couldn't fathom. Yet something had caught his eye as soon as they walked in.

A watch.

It wasn't anything much; one of the cheaper models actually. It wasn't plated in gold or encrusted with diamonds. It was a simple watch, but it was better than anything he'd ever had or ever would.

Or so he thought.

Without a word, Kaiba had bought it and given it to him, or rather Josi. No, it was to Joey. The brunette had talked Josi into it with the lie of it being a gift to her 'brother'. Vaguely, the blonde wondered what the CEO would do if he actually saw Joey wearing it.

His reaction might be worth the risk.

Tuning back into the conversation his sister and Yugi were having, Joey caught the tail end of Yugi's night with Sennen. Turning, he noted, "Those bets'll be th'death of ya."

"I know." The smaller teen hung his head. At the sight, Joey snickered, only for the sound to die in his throat when hazel eyes pinned him with a demanding stare.

"And you?" Serenity asked, "How did it go with Kaiba?"

"Er… well…" scratching the back of his head, the blonde gave a final death glare to the plastic bags before giving an _almost_ shy because he was _not_ shy, glance at his sister and friend, "Er…do I hafta?"

"Joey, it can't be any worse than mine." Yugi said with a doubtful look.

"Oh, I tink it can." Yugi rolled his eyes at his friend's stubbornness.

"Prove it."

"Erm…" Joey frowned at how he had fallen into that trap… again. "Well, we went to da mall 'nd walk'd 'nd talk'd 'nd stuff. Talk'd 'bout videogames mostly. Tink he was happy dat I wasn't spoutin' girly nonsense. I made up a last name too- Walker works, right?"

He was silent for a second, both his sister and Yugi staring at him expectantly, "Oh, 'nd I got him to buy me stuff."

"Where's the part where you get him to give up on you?" Serenity asked.

"Eh-heh, well, ya see… I forgot." He hung his head.

"You're on a date with the person you _hate_, and you _forgot_?" Yugi clarified.

"Well, I don't see _you_ getting' Sennen ta leave ya alone!" Joey protested.

"I have a _reason_ though, if you can call losing my temper and making a bet a 'reason'." Yugi added.

"Boys, boys, boys, no need to fight!" Serenity soothed. Both growled at each other once more, before huffing and turning away. Rolling her eyes, she continued, "Well, since you two have missed the main point of actually _going_ on those dates, we'll have to move on to the hard stuff."

They both looked at her, confused, "What?"

"… You really don't expect to be able to pull this off for much longer if they decide to get frisky, right?" she gave them a hard stare as they paled, "You can't just stop in the middle now, you have to go all the way."

"M-meaning?" Yugi asked.

"No more boxers under your skirts. You have to wear _panties_." Serenity grinned deviously. "And you'll have to use _pads_."

"P-pads?" Yugi shrank against his chair as Joey simply stared at his sister, horrified, "What are th-those?"

Joey couldn't believe what his sister was saying. She wouldn't really make them do that, right? _Right_?!

Serenity smirked evilly. Oh how she _loved _to play with 'dolls'.

o0O0o

Phantomworks: Yes, same ending as the one in PLL, but it has Joey's thoughts.

**Alice; and?**

Phantomworks; and I posted an announcement that this story was up in PLL. Yes, I know I should have done it a while ago.

**Alice: like six chapters.**

Phantomworks: yeah. Six chapters. Oh well. Please review?


	7. Chapter 7

Phantomworks: hey! Sorry it's been so long! I was in the hospital for a while and couldn't get to a computer.

**Alice: but she's back now!**

Phantomworks: and ready to go… sorta.

_I don't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic._

Chapter 7

Honestly, Seto couldn't help it.

After managing to get Mokuba to bed, Seto went back to his own room to do some work. However, as soon as he got there, he couldn't stop thinking about his blonde puppy. Oh, how he wanted to relive the last couple hours!

Good thing he had hacked into the mall security before hand and recorded the night to his own computer.

Bringing up the files, Seto decided to do a quick search for the two teens' identities. Josephine Walker and Yuki Minato weren't common names, but the CEO didn't want his blonde to be stealing an identity without knowing it. That could land him in jail and the brunette didn't want that.

No, Seto wanted Joey all to himself.

Just for the heck of it, the brunette called up his cousin as the video feed loaded. As he waited for the teen to pick up, an idea struck him, an idea that would make life a _lot_ more interesting.

"Hello cousin." Seto said once the phone was picked up. On the other side, he heard a long sigh.

"_What is it, Seto?"_

"Just calling to see how _your_ date went." The brunette said smugly.

There was a pause.

"_Not exactly how I had planned. Apparently Mutou has been talking behind my back."_

"Obviously, you _are_ rivals after all." The CEO rolled his eyes.

"_Well, it was to __**Yuki**__, his __**cousin**__. It took me __**forever**__ to get her to agree to go out with me."_

This made Seto think. If a girl was dead-set against dating Yami, there were only two possibilities to make her cave. Yami showing off some pretty impressive tongue action or… "You made a bet with her, didn't you?"

"… _Maybe?_"

"Those bets will be the death of you, you realize that, right?"

"_Yeah, yeah, I know, Mother._" The brunette could just _see_ Yami rolling his eyes right now.

"Don't roll your eyes at me." Seto snapped impulsively. "Anyway, what was the bet?"

"_I have to be 'nice' to Mutou and Yuki will date me…oh, and I can't get anywhere past first base."_

_Well played Mutou. _Seto silently congratulated the other. It was smart thinking to make a bet where Yami had to keep his hands to himself. This way, his cousin would have no clue about the other's secret.

If only 'Josi' had been as smart.

Seeing an opportunity to put his plan into effect, Seto laughed callously. "Hah! It hasn't even been one day and she has you whipped!"

A growl came from the other line. _"No. She. Doesn't!"_

"Does too! You're already listening and, dare I say, _obeying_ her wishes? If that isn't whipped, I don't know what is!" Seto smirked as he laid out the bait, certain his cousin would take it.

And take it he did.

"_I. AM. NOT. __**WHIPPED**__!"_ the other shouted, almost bursting the CEO's ear drums had the brunette not been waiting for the meltdown. The phone was safely an arm's length away. _"And I can prove it!"_

"How?" Seto taunted, loving the power trip he was getting right now. Really, manipulating his cousin was all _too_ easy.

"_By the time we break up, we will have gone all the way __**at least**__ once!"_ his cousin vowed before slamming the phone shut and ending the call.

Seto stared at his phone with a smirk, happy that his plan had succeeded. Yami wouldn't know what hit him until it was too late. Soon, the CEO would have loads of black mail material and Yami would be forced to bow to his greatness!

Finally, he had won a match against the King of Games.

If only his cousin knew…

Pressing the 'enter' key, the CEO waited patiently for the high-tech search engine to finish looking through all the personal identities of the population of Japan. It didn't take long; after all, Seto was the CEO of a multi-million dollar company with extensive resources at his disposal.

A message flashed on his screen after a few moments and Seto's smirk widened, "Knew it."

The pale fluorescent teal message that flashed on his screen said the following:

YUKI MINATO

JOSEPHINE WALKER

IDENTITIES NOT FOUND

Oh yes, if only his cousin knew.

o0O0o

Phantomworks: sorry it's short. My creativity is running low.

**Alice; hey, it's longer than the matching chapter from PLL.**

Phantomworks: I guess. Oh, and I want to say, I'm very surprised to see how observant some of my readers are.

**Alice; meaning?**

Phantomworks; I put up a new poll a while ago and was going to announce it in this chapter. Imagine my surprise when 24 people already voted!

**Alice; wow! Observant!**

Phantomworks; yep. Anyway, go ahead and vote on the poll so I can start thinking of the plot for the next story! And review!


	8. Chapter 8

Phantomworks: I'm back again!

**Alice: but DT might be a little late.**

Phantomworks: yeah, didn't get it to my Beta in time. Oh well. I don't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic.

Chapter 8

Joey had the hardest time waking up the morning after what he had officially dubbed 'Serenity's Day of Torture…er'. Yes, torturer, not the one being tortured, but the one _doing_ the torture. The blonde had never once thought that his sister's mind would be filled with sadistic temptations, but he would never doubt that again.

Six hours in heels and pads made sure of that.

So it was no wonder after such a horribly traumatic experience (_two days man, two days_!), that Joey completely forgot to set his alarm before he went to bed. Since the alarm wouldn't go off, he wouldn't wake up until halfway through third period and proceed to throw his clothes on and race to school. There, he would get a tardy for being late and a detention for being tardy too many times and would then have to stay after school for another hour or so.

This was a perfectly reasonable sequence of events. However this is not what occurred.

At precisely 7:00 in the morning, Joey's cell phone rang right next to his ear, blaring scream-o music at top volume. Not the least bit startled, the blonde groggily blinked his eyes open and yawned before reaching for the phone.

"H'llo?" he drawled, eyes starting to close again as sleep called to him. On the other line, there was a long silence before the caller hung up. Cutely confused, the teen stared at his phone. "Huh…?"

Then he saw the time on the digital clock on his phone face. "****!"

Jumping up, he danced around his room as he tried to pull up his uniform pants at the same time as he yanked his shirt over his head. This resulted in him falling flat on his back, but managing to pull on his pants none-the-less before tackling his shirt.

In record time, he was out the door and racing down the steps of his apartment complex, silently cheering that he was on time today. Just as he got down to the lobby, a gravelly voice called his name.

"Joseph!" the landlady waved her hand to catch his attention. The woman was in her later years and smoking had made her voice raspy, but she was as nice as a person could be.

"Yeah?" Joey ran up to the counter where she was perched for the early morning shift, the only one she actually handled.

"A man came in a few moments ago an' dropped somethin' off fer ya." She said, scooting a back across the counter. "Said ya'd be in a hurry, not that ya aren't _every_ mornin'."

"I swear! My alarm doesn't go off!" Joey protested.

"S'not my problem." She waved him off. "Take yer bag an' go. If it's a bomb, keep it away from my buildin', y'hear?"

"Loud an' clear." Joey said, eyeing the bag suspiciously. Handling it carefully, he took it outside where he very gently set it on the pavement. It wouldn't be the first time a gang had sent him a homemade bomb as a warning, so he was well within his rights to be overly cautious.

Peering into the bag, he gasped at the sight that assaulted his eyes.

Warm, delicious looking breakfast wraps were neatly aligned side-by-side to allow a total of five to fit inside the bag. Each was stuffed with a different combination of breakfast foods. They contained anywhere from eggs and bacon to toasted apple slices and cinnamon.

To the hungry blonde, it was downright _heaven_.

Scooping the bag back up into his arms, he took off at a gentle jog, genuinely happy for once in his life. He had a hot breakfast that didn't involve the after smell of alcohol or vomit and he was on time for school! Not only that, but the wraps could be eaten as he walked.

And they were homemade!

_This has to be the best day ever!_ Joey decided as he bit into the last breakfast wrap. What? He's a growing boy! His stomach was a bottomless pit! The blonde's only regret was that there had not been more to savor.

Tossing the empty paper bag into the trash, he licked his fingers eagerly, trying to get every last morsel off of his skin. Unbeknownst to him, two floors up, a certain CEO was watching him with a keen eye and soon a lusty gaze.

Seto watched in amusement as his little puppy continued to clean off his fingers from his delicious meal. If his blonde unknowingly did a show like that every morning, the brunette wouldn't mind the breakfast it cost him in the least.

It wasn't his breakfast anyway.

Seeing the teen wipe his hands on his pants, Seto dialed the number waiting on his phone right before the blonde walked into the school doors. He watched his puppy pause outside the doors, checking for his phone before picking it up to answer it.

"He-yello'?" Joey answered, only to have the caller rudely hang up on him. "Hey! What gives?"

"Wheeler! No cell phones inside the school building!" A passing teacher ordered.

"I'm not in th'buildin'!" Joey answered as he shut off his phone and shoved it in his bag.

"Rgh, very well then. That phone better stay off the rest of the day!" the teacher demanded as he stalked away, "Now get to class."

"Yes, sir!" The blonde saluted mockingly with a grin to himself. Man, if he'd forgotten to turn his phone off, it'd have been confiscated for sure! This day was looking very bright, very bright indeed.

It took him all of three minutes to find his classroom. He walked in just as Yami Sennen brushed past him and left the room. Looking after the teen, Joey's face dropped.

If Sennen was messing with Yugi, things could go downhill very quickly.

Loping over to his seat, the blonde dropped his bag onto the ground before turning to his friend, expecting an angry mess. What he got instead surprised him.

Yugi was… smiling?

"What'cha smilin' for, Yug'?" Joey asked, feeling as if he was missing out on a joke. Instead of answering him, Yugi merely shook his head.

"Nothing, Joey. Nothing…"

Completely confused, Joey started to ask another question, but was forced to turn around when the teacher called the class to order. His friend was acting suspiciously…happy today.

Had he gotten a hot breakfast too?

o0O0o

"Something wrong, Seto?" Yami asked, flashing a concerned look in his cousin's direction. The brunette looked a mixture of emotions such as anger, frustration, and cold calculation.

When the CEO's normal face was a blank mask, this much emotion was a warning sign for sure.

"Nothing is wrong, Yami." Seto said, smoothing out his features into a thoughtful expression. "Everything is all right. The problem is that I don't know how to proceed from here."

"Proceed?" Yami questioned. "In your business?"

Seto gave him a bland look.

"Okay, not that. Is it Mokuba?"

Another look.

"You can't blame me for choosing those two first! Your life _revolves_ around them!"

"It does not." Seto protested.

"Want to hang out after school today?"

Rolling with the abrupt change in subject, Seto easily answered, "I would have to check my work schedule and then see if I had anything planned with Mokuba. Why?"

"…" Yami just shook his head. "You need to get out more."

"That's what I'm trying to do." Seto said, completely missing Yami's point. "I am thinking of how to ask Josi on another date. She made it quite clear that she only wants to be friends, but I wish to be something…more."

"Just go up to her and ask." At yet _another _look, Yami rescinded his statement, "Or you could send her flowers and chocolates and stuff. Girls like **** like that."

"That's true." Seto said, but wondered. _Would a puppy like them too?_

"I'm right and you know it! I'm the King of Games and the King of Girls!" Yami proudly exclaimed.

"Oh, so you've gotten into Yuki's pants already?" Seto asked with amusement. It was hilarious to watch Yami's face turn crimson with embarrassment and frustration.

"I haven't gotten there yet, _no_, but I _will_!" Yami vowed.

"Better be soon or I'll have Josi long before you have Yuki." The CEO said with a smirk.

"Is that a challenge?" the crimson-eyed teen asked, a wicked smile playing at his lips. "You should know better than to challenge me, Seto. I always accept and I _always_ win."

With that, Yami turned around in his seat to listen to the teacher ramble on. However, his words still echoed in Seto's mind. With an amused smile, the brunette couldn't help but think '_this __time__, Yami, you're wrong'._

Oh so wrong.

o0O0o

Phantomworks: heh-heh.

**Alice: I'm liking this.**

Phantomworks: yeah… still don't have a plot for it. I'm just letting it kind of play out. Hopefully it's going well.

**Alice: me too.**

Phantomworks: anyway, please review!


	9. Chapter 9

Phantomworks: sorry it took so long!

**Alice; two weeks?!**

Phantomworks: sorry! I had finals! The Final finals I'll ever have to take! … hopefully.

**Alice; you better make it up to us!**

Phantomworks: some oneshots work? I don't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic.

Chapter 9

The school day passed quickly enough. Soon, Joey found himself walking towards the drama club room with a smile on his face and a skip in his step.

Until, that is, he remembered the script for the play.

_****! I forgot t'look it over!_ He froze mid-step. _Yug' will be so mad at me! And Kaiba will laugh fer sure if he doesn't cut off my head first! Oh no! What am I gonna do?!_

Pace quickening, he figured there would be a few minutes before the club meeting started. Maybe he could look over the script before they started?

_Please don't let today be a day of rehearsing from memory!_ He begged. Racing into the meeting room, Joey dropped into a seat beside his best friend. Rummaging through his backpack, he found the script and hurriedly flipped it open. Some crash-studying never hurt anyone, right?

In seconds, Sennen had grabbed Yugi's attention, but the blonde hardly cared. He was sure his buddy could take care of himself. If it came to fists, Joey would step in, but for now… For now, he had lines to memorize. He was only startled out of his concentration when a loud voice called the members to attention.

"Okay everyone. We'll be reading through the script today. Try to add as much emotion as you can." The director, Seto Kaiba, said quite emotionlessly himself. Joey immediately relaxed and sighed in relief. Reading through the script was _way_ easier than speaking from memory.

As the narrator started to read, the blonde couldn't help but be grateful for the fact that he had a somewhat small part. His character was a girl, like Yugi's, and was a friend to the Lady that Yugi played, even though she was akin to a slave.

As a servant, Hanami was to follow Lady Riku around to heed her every wish and desire. Joey wrinkled his nose at the thought of a stuck-up lady bossing him around. He already had _someone_ who seemed to think they were his master; he hardly needed to prove them right.

As the story went along, Hanami fell in love with a soldier sent from the tyrannical king who pursued her mistress's hand in marriage. A bit of a traitor, but when the time comes for the Lady to leave, the servant is able to convince the soldier to let her come with them. The show of friendship tugged at Joey's heart strings, but what happened next was the real clincher.

After all of her hard work, after falling in love and leaving her entire life behind, Hanami is killed.

Both she and the soldier are the first to die at the hands of a so-called 'warlock' bent on showing the tyrant his evil ways. Just the mere thought made Joey fume! Why is it that the good ones, those people that work their _entire life_ just to be recognized, to break past poverty and get the good life –why is it that _they_ are always the ones that die?!

As if life isn't hard enough?!

"Mutt." A voice rattled him from his thoughts. "Mutt, stop day dreaming and say your piece!"

"Wha-? Oh, right…" Joey blinked his eyes, trying to shake off his somewhat morbid thoughts. Now was not the time to be drawing similarities between himself and Hanami.

Finding the place in the script, Joey took a second to read ahead and fix his tongue against his accent. It took work, but he could do it.

"A month is hardly adequate for a lady of Miss Riku's standing." Joey said sternly, using a higher, but not too high, pitched voice.

"I apologize, but it is as the King commands." Another teen answered. He played the part of the soldier that Joey was supposed to 'fall in love' with. What was his name again? Tori?

"As the King commands." Joey spat, eyes narrowing at the words. He hated commands. "The King has no right to order around those that are his citizens! He is to protect and care for them! Not demand unreasonable acts!"

"The King is well within his rights to demand anything he pleases!" the raven haired teen shouted back. "Besides, is marriage really such an unreasonable act? Lady Riku will be taken care of and provided for, for the rest of her life!"

"But she will never be happy." Joey stated dully. For some reason, he felt eyes boring into the back of his head. "Such is the life of one in a gilded cage. You may make it as beautiful as you wish, but a prison is still a prison."

The teen paused appropriately before speaking softly. "You speak as if from prior knowledge."

At that moment, Joey looked up, startled to find blue eyes staring straight at him, with an emotion he could not name. Shocked as he was, he forgot that he was in the middle of reading. The other teen–Torimo?–cleared his throat and repeated his line.

"Prior knowledge ain't got nothin' t'do wit' it." Joey answered absently, making several of the members chuckle under their breath, Kaiba included. Realizing this, the blonde looked around, wondering if he'd missed something.

"Although we greatly encourage ad-libbing, Wheeler," Kaiba started with a smirk in his voice, "getting out of character is another matter entirely. Why don't you stick to the script until you identify more with the character of Hanami?"

_Identify more, my foot!_ Joey wanted to say, but instead, he turned his head down, glaring at the wad of papers in his hands. Why did Moneybags always have to get the last word?! As the play's director, the blonde couldn't aptly retort without getting thrown off the play. But his pride would never let him live this down!

And today had been going so well, too!

Muttering curses to himself, Joey quickly found his place and fixed his mistake, moving the play reading along to its completion. Soon, the play was read in its entirety, much to Joey and Yugi's relief. The next club meeting was announced for Wednesday and the members were dismissed and many left.

Joey should have been with those that left. He really should have, but when Sennen said something that made his buddy beside him freeze, Joey found himself in a situation that he'd rather have avoided.

Absently, he heard Kaiba try to calm the situation, but he knew it was too late.

A solid _thwack_ made him flinch as the sound of flesh hitting flesh filled the club room. Looking over his shoulder, the blonde winced as he saw a bruise already forming along Sennen's jaw. Joey had been on the receiving end of one or two of Yugi's legendary left-hooks.

They were not something to sneeze at.

Adrenaline shot through him as Joey watched Sennen climb to his feet, eyes teaming with a vengeful fire. Minutely, he sunk a little lower in his stance, ready to fend off the other teen should he try to attack his shorter friend.

Apparently his help wasn't needed.

"You can't hurt me without losing you-know-who." Yugi said with a cold voice that made even _Joey_ shiver in fear. Sometimes, his own friend scared the tar out of him!

After the statement, silence stretched out between the two main participants and any other unfortunate soul still left in the meeting room.

Finally, Yugi broke the silence with a quiet, "That's what I thought."

Without another word, he turned and left. Looking between the two teens with confusion, Joey loyally loped off after his friend. Something was going on between the two of them and he was curious to find out what.

o0O0o

Phantomworks: there you go.

**Alice; wha?! Short!**

Phantomworks: sorry! It was all I could get up for this! Be happy!

**Alice; no!**

Phantomworks: (sigh) please review and make sure to check out the poll I have for the next story I work on. It's proved to be close between two stories.


	10. Chapter 10

Phantomworks: sorry I took so long. I went to Italy for a week and just got my times right again.

**Alice: yet you still look like you haven't slept.**

Phantomworks: oh well. I don't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic.

Chapter 10

After the rather one-sided fight in the drama club room and a bipolar, lovey-dovey chat talk between 'Yuki' and Sennen, Joey found himself walking home to school a bit earlier than usual. Normally, he would have detention or he and Yugi would head over to the arcade to waste some time after school. Whenever he did end up home, his dad was either already out to a bar, or still sleeping off his last binge.

Because of that, the blonde didn't think twice before walking through his apartment door.

Maybe it was because of months of having avoided his father's awake time. Maybe it was because he'd left the gang and therefore didn't fight as often. Maybe he had just become complacent.

Whatever the reason was, he didn't see the blow until it was too late.

With a pained grunt, he smacked into the wooden door frame before falling to the floor. As he blinked to clear his pain-blurred vision, he inwardly cursed himself.

"Whot took y'so long, _boy_?" the words may have been slurred, but that didn't make the rage they hid any less potent. "Say 'tention 'gain, an' I'll kick tha' empty head o'yers."

"Club." Joey hissed. Bringing his arms up, he made it look like he was assessing the damage his father had done when in reality he was defending himself from more blows. Subtly, his legs slid higher up, protecting his stomach in the case of attack.

"Club?" the anger didn't lessen. In fact, suspicious was added to the mix. "Whot club?"

"…" Joey weighed his options. If he answered, his father was likely to beat him for what his dad deemed a 'worthless pursuit'. Yet if he didn't answer, Ol' Daddy Dearest was likely to beat him anyway for lying.

Might as well tell the truth.

"Di'n'cha hear me, boy?!" a kick to the shins. "ANSWER!"

"Drama club." The blonde replied through gritted teeth.

"_Drama_ club!?" his father roar, a beer-bottle smashing above the blonde's head. "What th'**** do y'take me fer?! No son o'mine's in some f***-a*** club like that!"

Joey winced. Maybe not answering would have been better. A kick across his arms only reinforced that thought.

"Wha'kinda f****** _pansy_ are you?!" the man raged, grabbing hold of the blonde's collar and dragging him bodily off the floor. "Thinkin' if y'try hard 'nough, iffen yer _pretty_ 'nough, some Hollywood idiot'll come an' sweep y'off yer feet like a **** _princess?!_Think you'll live th'good life an' make millions?!"

Joey's gasp cut off in a choke as his father's hands fisted his shirt tighter. Instinctively, his hands came up to fend off the larger male. When that failed, he flinched as his father spat in his face.

"No one's gonna come, boy." His father's voice was lower, even more dangerous than before. "No one'll pay _you_ any 'tention. No one'll hand y'money. Th' only way y'll see any kind o'rich is by spreadin' yer legs like a _whore_. Happiness ain't handed on a silver platter. So get yer head outta th'clouds an' face reality."

His words stung. They were mean, hurtful, and _spiteful_. They were spoken out of pure depression and rage, with not an ounce of compassion to spare. They were words from a father to a son and worst of all…

They were true.

Before he could react, Joey was slammed back onto the ground. His defensive position broken, he was left wide open for attack. Dazed, he couldn't even try to defend himself as his father took his anger out on his son's body.

Before he knew it, Joey's mind blacked out.

o0O0o

When he came to, his father had already left for the night, leaving him lying on the ground where he had fallen. As he assessed the damage, Joey hissed through his teeth at the number of bruises that adorned his stomach and chest. His old man knew better than to strike a part that would show.

Wouldn't want Child Services to take away his punching bag, now would he?

As it was, his arms and legs were pretty clean, just a few bruises from the beginning of their fight and a nice black eye that he could hide with some of Serenity's cover-up. As far as beatings go, it wasn't the worst his father could do.

After all, he didn't have any broken bones… that he knew of. Man, if he did, he really didn't want to find out while at work.

…

Wait a minute-!

WORK!

Digging through his pocket and wincing at the action, he pulled out his phone to see several text messages from his boss. The sheer number made him scared to open even one. Steeling himself, he started with the first one sent, stating a simple 'Where are you?'.

From there, the messages escalated from anger to worry and back again. With mounting anxiety, the blonde opened the last text, silently hoping that his lucky streak would hold out. The message held only two words.

'_You're fired.'_

With a loud curse, Joey threw his phone across the room. It skittered several feet, but didn't break. Older models had that kind of durability. Sighing in frustration, the blonde let his head fall back to hit the wall, wondering what he was going to do.

He was counting on that job to pay this month's rent, if not next month's too. Hopefully, the final paycheck would cover most of the expenses, but he couldn't be too sure. Nothing in his life was stable.

"*****!" he cursed again, dragging his hands down his face in frustration. Just as he was starting his own pity party, his phone went off again. Peering over his hands, he stared at it, hope warring with despair. Maybe his boss had had a change of heart?

Stumbling to his feet and using the wall as support, he scrambled for his phone, unable to dash the hope growing within him. Bringing up his inbox, he crossed his fingers, wishing for luck.

It was Serenity.

_Seto wants another date with Josi. Told me to pass it on._

Letting out a sigh, he scrubbed at his eyes, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall. He had promised himself long ago that he wouldn't shed another tear. He couldn't afford to break down and let grief overcome him.

Look at what it did to his dad.

So, sucking it up, he sent a message back to his sister.

_**U tell him 2 **** himself?**_

_As I am a girl, that is highly inappropriate, but yes._

_**And?**_

_Told me to pass it on anyway._

_**U didn't have 2.**_

_No, but he mentioned something about Go-Karts. Thought u might be interested._

Go-Karts? When was the last time he'd gone Go-Kart racing? It must have been back in the gang when they used to sneak in at night for free rides. Even now, he could still feel the wind through his hair as he tore through the track. Just what he needed after today's events.

And money-bags wanted to take Josi for a ride?

Grinning, he sent her a reply.

_**Sure, y not?**_

_Great. Yuki has a date 2. Tomorrow, my house, before five, kk?_

_**Got it.**_

Closing his phone, Joey decided that he had nothing better to do that night than sleep. Wandering into his bathroom, he took a quick cold shower, and then got ready for bed. Closing his bedroom door, locking it, and then pushing his dresser up against, Joey finally felt safe in his own room. Knowing his father wouldn't be able to come back for seconds, the blonde laid down to sleep.

He was out in seconds.

o0O0o

Waking up the next day was not fun. Neither was school. Not even when he got another bag of piping hot breakfast burritos to fill his starving stomach. It wasn't fun because every move he made caused a painful sting and an echo of his father's words the next day.

To say that he wasn't a happy camper would be an understatement.

By the time he got to Serenity's house after school, he felt ready to punch someone's lights out. Unfortunately, after leaving the gang several years before, he knew that a fight wasn't an option. What he wouldn't give to sink his fists into some guy's face…

"You don't look happy." Serenity noted with a raised eyebrow.

"Rough night." He muttered, taking the clothes from her. He looked them over with a calculating eye. "Hate t'break it to ya, Serenity, but I ain't wearing a _dress_ t'drive _Go-Karts_."

"What are you talking about?" she huffed. "Girls wear dresses to that kind of stuff all the time!"

"Y'don't understand, Ren." Locking pleading gold eyes on her, Joey willed his little sister to understand. "I can't wear th'dress."

Staring at him hard, she started to protest when realization dawned on her. In that moment, he felt more shame than he'd ever admit aloud. How was he supposed to feel when he admitted to his sister, _the person who he swore to protect_, that he couldn't even protect himself?

"I see." She said quietly. "I'll find something else."

"Me too!" Yugi cut in. "If Joey gets to wear pants, then I do too!"

"No." Serenity said. "He's doing a drag race. You're eating at a café. There is nothing hindering you."

Huffing, Yugi continued to protest, even though he knew he'd lost. Shooting his friend a victorious smirk, Joey took the newly offered clothes and headed to the bathroom to change.

There, beside the obviously feminine undergarments, he found a pair of loose khakis that hugged in places to show off his hips, yet hide his masculinity. With them, he found a silky forest green shirt and a short, cameo jacket. Donning them all and clipping in his extensions, he decided that he looked like a showy army chick.

That or a girly-girl trying to act tough.

Opening the mirror cabinet, he took some of Serenity's cover-up and quickly applied it to any bruise that showed up in the mirror. Making sure to get a couple inches below his collar and the hem of the shirt, he deemed himself ready to go.

"Serenity!" he called. When she appeared, he posed. "How do I look?"

"First off, your hair is a mess." She dead-panned. "Secondly, the jacket isn't worn like that. Thirdly- oh, just let me fix it!"

Standing as still as he could, the blonde let his sister go at his outfit and hair like a possessed person. In no time, his 'boobs' filled out and his jacket fit him right. Next, his hair was pulled up in a pony-tail to keep it out of the way and go with the whole no-nonsense look. Some light make-up was applied to his eyes and lips and he was finally 'Serenity Approved'.

"Okay, _now_ you can go." Serenity said, patting his shoulder.

"Tanks." He said dryly.

"YUGI! GET IN HERE!" she yelled, dragging her next unfortunate victim in.

"Joey, help!" Yugi pleaded.

"Sorry, Yug'. Already did my time." Joey chuckled at his friend's expense. Turning his back, the blonde left the house and prepared himself for a long walk to the meeting place. During that time, he hoped that he could cool-off his head.

At least, he would get to drive a Go-Kart tonight.

o0O0o

Phantomworks: yay! I'm leaving it there.

**Alice: what!? But I wanna see their date!**

Phantomworks: yeah and I wanna see Joey beat up some people. Neither of us are going to get what we want.

**Alice: hmph!**

Phantomworks: thank you for reading and please review!


	11. Chapter 11

Phantomworks: yay! I'm getting faster!

**Alice; just finish it already.**

Phantomworks; nah. I don't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic

Chapter 11

Seto sat on a bench outside of the Go-kart/arcade building that would be the location of his next date with 'Josi'. Anxiously, he looked at his watch. It was already five minutes after their meeting time and he still didn't see his blonde anywhere in sight. Had his puppy decided on not showing up anyway?

Going to stand, he didn't notice someone to his left until they ran into him.

"Hey, watch it!" the other shouted as Seto fell ungracefully to the ground. Getting mud on his hands and pants, Seto glared at the ground before smoothly picking himself up and turning the deadly weapon onto his attacker.

"You better watch it." He said, taking in the size of the other. It was a man a little shorter than him, but packed to the brim with muscles. Four of his buddies with the same profile stood behind him and by the looks of it, Seto could guess that they every day in the arcade. They all had that 'dumb guy' look to them.

"Oh, so nerdy guy here thinks he can talk down to me?" the leader snorted, his lackeys chuckling behind him.

"Excuse me?" Seto's glare intensified. "Do you not know who I am?"

"Not a clue, but by the look of your clothes, I'm guessing someone who has more than enough money to pay for any 'injuries' that I received from running into you." A greedy smirk curled the other's lips, making a growl bubble up in Seto's throat. He'd seen looks like that from too many people to count. They had all ended up on the streets.

If this guy thought he was any different, he was sorely mistaken.

Before Seto could inform him of that, quite loudly too, another voice broke them up. "'Scuse me, but can I ask what you guys are doing to my date?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Seto recognized a head of blonde and immediately straightened. While he didn't want to look weak in front of his date, he also didn't want to look like an uncivilized brute who was picking a fight.

"Course, little lady." The leader said, "This chump here ran into me and I think I need a little compensation. Though, if you would like to come with us, I'm sure I could forget the whole thing."

Josi looked from Seto to the group of men twice her size, then back to Seto. "Do you mind if I beat them up?"

Raising an eyebrow at the other's request, Seto gestured to the group. "Go right ahead."

"Little Girlie thinks she's gonna beat us up?" the Leader laughed, pointing to Josi as his guys followed his lead. "Y'hear that guys? Girlie's gonna give us a kicking! Think she's worried about the consequences?"

At the innuendo, Josi bristled. "Look 'ere you, I've had a bad enough day! First I couldn't sleep last night, school was horrible, and then I lost my job. So I'm giving you one chance to leave us alone!"

"And what if we don't?" the leader challenged, boisterous façade dropping into a deadly look.

"Then you're going down first. Your two buddies there behind you will be next, cause they think they're all that." Josi looked thoughtful. "Then one of the two behind them is going to run away while the other pees his pants and tries to fake unconsciousness."

"Think you're hot ***, huh?!" the leader snarled as he charged the smaller blonde. Stepping to the side, Seto sat back to watch the chaos explode.

And it did just that.

Ducking under a right hook, Josi threw an uppercut to the leader's jaw, dazing the other before sweeping his feet out from under him. A harsh push had the guy falling to the ground, head cracking against the pavement. Spitting on him, she turned a sadistic smile on the other four, "Now to show me who's who…"

As she had predicted, the other two dove at her, letting out war cries. Snickering to herself, she twisted as twin punches flew past her face. Slipping behind them, she shoved one onto the ground while blocking a blow from the other. Wrapping her thin fingers around the second, she flipped him bodily over her shoulder, slamming him onto the ground. Giving him a good kick to the balls, she turned her attention back to the first.

Quick on her feet, she dodged whatever the guy threw at her, getting in two punches of her own before nabbing the guy's arm and twisting it behind his back. The man let out a howl of pain as he dropped to his knees. Planting a foot on his back, Josi looked at the other two that had yet to move.

"Now, tell me." She smirked. "Which one of you is going to be the hero?"

They both flinched before one took off in the other direction, leaving his buddies behind. The other gritted his teeth and shot towards her.

"And we have a winner." She smiled, twisting the arm she held until she heard a crack. Dropping the third, she deflected a jab, bringing her leg up to knee the guy in the stomach. Kneeing him again in the nose, she dropped him to lay with his other three buddies. Dusting off her hands, she smiled to herself, frustrations finally worked out.

Then she turned around to see Seto staring at her in awe.

_****! I forgot I was Josi!_ She thought, rubbing the back of her head nervously. "Er… hi."

"Glad you could make it." Seto said, as if she _hadn't_ just downed four guys twice her size and scared off a fifth. "Where'd you learn to fight?"

"Um… self-defense class in my free time?" her answer sounded more like a question than a statement.

"Right, because self-defense tells you which of the guys would turn tail and run." Seto raised an eyebrow.

"Erm… movies?" she tried again.

"Mm-hm." He said, not believing it in the slightest.

"How's this?" She started, "You believe my excuse, we go in, race some Go-karts, and forget this ever happened."

"Whatever you say, puppy." Seto smirked to himself as he opened the door for her. Instead of going in though, she gave him a funny look.

"What did you call me?"

"Nothing." He said, correcting his mistake. He only referred to a certain blonde with dog comments. If he started using them here, Josi would know she was found out.

As it was, the blonde woman gave him a suspicious look before heading into the establishment. Thanking his lucky stars that he hadn't messed up too badly, Seto followed her in. Once inside, he paid for the use of two Go-karts for the duration of their date, because as Seto Kaiba, he can do that.

"Wow! The whole day?!" Josi gaped at him. "I'm used to having to stand in line to drive! This is awesome!"

"Yes, it is." Seto couldn't help the smallest smile gracing his lips at the sight of how happy Josi was. "And when you get tired of Go-karts, we can do laser-tag or some of the arcade games here."

"Sweet!" Josi pumped her fist in the air before realizing what she was doing. Face flushing red, she hid her hands behind her back. "I-I mean… thank you?"

"You're welcome." Seto frowned slightly at the way she corrected herself, but decided not to dwell on it. Girls didn't fist-pump. At least, the ones he interacted with didn't. If Josi wanted to pull off her disguise, she would have to play the part to the T.

It also wasn't bad practice for the play.

"Are you ready to ride then?" Seto asked, handing the blonde a helmet as they went out to the track.

She shot him a challenging look as she donned the helmet. "I was born ready!"

o0O0o

Turns out, Josi _was_ born ready. On the track, she took curves at speeds that would have made Seto nauseous, if his car didn't flip first. And when passing other racers, she'd get in so close that they were forced to slow down in order to not slam into the side of the track. Now, it's not to say that Seto wasn't a good racer as well, but there was just something different about Josi.

Something dangerous.

When they went to play laser tag, the opposite was true. Josi would walk right into the middle of an ambush without another thought. By the time Seto had shot out the other players and 'rescued' his girl, she would be steaming about the other players. Something about fighting head on instead of sneaking around like cowards.

Honestly, Seto found the whole situation hilarious.

"I mean, really! If you want to fight, at least make it fair!" Josi dropped herself into her chair with a huff.

"They did. They gave you plenty of warning shots." Seto said, sipping at his soda. "It's your own fault that you stood there trying to shoot them while your suit recharged."

"Well, they didn't have to keep shooting me after I was 'dead'!" Josi argued back.

"I think they did." Seto said, teasing his cute blonde. If only they could lose the hair extensions. Then this date would be perfect.

"Quiet you." She ordered, chow-ing down on some fries and a hamburger. When ketchup and salt stuck to her fingers, she didn't give another thought to licking her fingers clean. Even with Seto sitting right in front of her.

He groaned, making her look up, "You say something?"

"Um… arcades?" he asked. "We have enough tokens left over for a couple hours worth of entertainment."

"Couple hours?" Josi finished off her sandwich, shooting Seto a grin. "Better make that half an hour."

"Why?"

"I challenge you to a duel of Street-Fighter 5!" she shouted gleefully, racing over to the double station.

Unable to help himself, Seto chuckled under his breath. Picking up their trash, he deposited it in a can before joining the blonde at the game. For the next half hour, they rushed through the tokens in a number of two player games, from fist-fighter to racing to first-person shooter. Soon enough though, their token supply ran out.

"Wow!" Josi fell back with a laugh, a grin splitting her face. "That's the most fun I've had in a _long_ time!"

"I'm glad." Seto looked over with a soft smile. Man, he'd been doing that a lot lately. He really needed to stop. "I did too."

"We need to do that again!" Josi looked up at him with shining golden eyes.

"Yes, we really should." Seto agreed, unable to stand the display of cuteness before him. There was a long minute where neither talked, simply staring into each other's eyes. The moment was broken by someone commenting on them 'getting a room'.

Seto decided that person needed to die a horrible death by public humiliation.

"Er, I have to get going." Josi looked away, her cheeks stained red. "My… half-sister will be waiting on me. Wow, it's so weird to call her that!"

_I'm sure it is_. Seto snickered at the thought. "How about I give you a lift?"

"No, I…" she paused, thinking it over, before consenting, "That'd be nice."

Opening the door for her, Seto escorted her to a limo that was waiting outside for them. The date and Josi had been perfect, fun even. If he actually smiled in public, he wouldn't be able to keep the expression off his face. As it was, the small spatters of left-over dried blood on the pavement tugged at his lips.

Yes, today was perfect.

o0O0o

Phantomworks: …

**Alice: I agree with your beta. JUST MAKE THEM KISS ALREADY!**

Phantomworks: nah, that'll be soon, I promise! … maybe!

**Alice: why you little-!**

Phantomworks: Please review!


	12. Chapter 12

Phantomworks: wow, for being a poll winner, this fanfic is way behind Dragon Training in reviews.

**Alice; what can I say? Old fics have higher ratings than new fics.**

Phantomworks: hmm…. I don't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic.

Chapter 12

Why couldn't his days have kept up their run of good luck? Sure, Joey had received another breakfast sack, which he was starting to look forward to each morning, and yes, he had made it to school on time, thanks to another mysterious call in the middle of the night, but that's where it ended.

Somehow, in the middle of first period, he had gotten a detention. Probably for sleeping in class when he shouldn't have been… He had been so close to breaking his record of 'free days after school', too! Now, not only was his day ruined, but he was going to be late for his date –er… planned meeting with Se –Kaiba… as Josi.

Yes, nothing weird in the slightest.

Bored as he was in detention, the blonde stared out the window, wishing that he could be down with his shorter pal at the school gates. As he watched, he saw Sennen walk out to the gates where Yugi sat perched on the wall. With growing interest, Joey leaned forward, watching the scene with anticipation.

Hey, he was in detention. What else could he do?!

In seconds, the two small figures appeared to be shouting at one another, yet another fight between rivals. The blonde couldn't help a laugh. If only Sennen _knew_ who he was yelling at. _That_ reaction would be _awesome_ to see!

And now Yugi was leaving.

Staring after his friend, Joey felt a little disappointed. Usually, Yugi waited on him, even if he ended up in detention. Whatever Sennen had said must have been really mean… Joey decided that he would punch his lights out the next time he saw him.

"Okay, Mr. Wheeler, you are dismissed." The supervising teacher said.

"_Finally!_" Joey exclaimed, slinging his bag over his shoulder and giving the teacher a little salute. "Same time next week?"

"Oh _please_ no!" the woman's head connected with her desk with a satisfying _THUD_. The teen couldn't help a grin as he walked through the vacant hallways. It was always a goal of his to mess with the teachers. He even had it down to a science! Enough messing around to get yelled at, but not enough for a detention, usually.

Right as he turned a corner, he ran smack into someone else.

"Watch where yer goin'!" Joey shouted as he rubbed his nose, only to hesitate. "S-Kaiba?"

"Mutt?" blue eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?"

"D'tention." honey gold orbs glared up at him suspiciously. "Y'got some reason fer bein' here?"

"Other than stalking you through the halls to run into you?" the CEO asked sarcastically, lifting a brown eyebrow. "I was talking to the principal about the upcoming play and what we would need for what nights."

"…Oh." Right, the taller teen was the director. He really should have remembered that.

"Speaking of which, how are those lines coming?" an arrogant smirk made the blonde bristle. Honestly, Joey had been so focused on school and keeping the CEO from figuring out Josi's identity, that he forgot to study those.

He really needed to get to work on that.

"That's none o'yer business!" Joey growled.

"As the director, it actually is." S-Kaiba crossed his arms in a haughty manner. "But I've got better things to do than to make sure you've learned your lessons. If nothing else, we can use an understudy."

"_Understudy?!_" the blonde yelled, face reddening in anger. "You can't jest-!"

"I can, and I will, if need be, but I don't think you need to worry about that right now." Those lips turned up in knowing smile, making Joey's stomach flip. "Don't you need to be somewhere?"

"What?" the abrupt change in subject left Joey in the dust.

"I would _hate_ to make you late." Blue eyes flashed in playful warning before the CEO walked off. Gold eyes followed him, squinting in confusion. Just what was the other playing at?

Then Joey remembered the date. The realization felt like a sucker punch to the stomach.

The blonde had felt like the brunette had been hiding something for a while, but this? No, Kaiba couldn't have figured it out so quickly! Joey had played all the right parts! He hadn't spoken with an accent, hadn't fought with the CEO, although those other guys had been a different story.

He'd even tried to flirt with him to make himself seem more girly!

… Girls did that, right?

He'd been flawless! There was no way that Kaiba could have figured it out, genius brain or no! If he couldn't have figured it out, then why did he say such things? Why did he call Josi 'puppy', a dog name?

Why did Joey feel so uneasy?

o0O0o

Josi could hardly keep from fleeing from the date with Kaiba the first chance she got. All night, her suspicious continued to roil in her stomach, making her too sick to even eat the offered meal. By the end of the night, she couldn't even remember what they had done on the date.

And Seto had noticed.

"Hey." Blue eyes looked her over with a concerned look, "Are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" she said, cheerfully. Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "Why wouldn't I?"

"You've been quiet all night and you didn't eat anything."

"Nerves." She said.

"You weren't nervous before." He pointed out.

"Maybe it's just tonight." She replied vaguely.

"Hmm…" Seto glanced over at the blonde before pulling them to a stop on the sidewalk in front of their limo. "Would a different day work better for you?"

"Excuse me?" she asked, no following.

"A different day, perhaps this weekend?" he asked, not liking how distant the girl had become. They had been doing so well before! What had gone wrong?

"I don't know…" she said quietly, looking away. There was something that was on her mind, something that was bothering her.

Seto couldn't let his blonde get away.

"It can be a double date. My cousin Yami and his date would love to go with us, I'm sure. He and… what was her name…?" Seto pretended to forget for a second, seeing the golden eyes light up.

"Yuki?" Josi offered, her voice with a nice ring to it.

"Ah, yes." Seto smiled softly. "Her. I'm sure they would like to accompany us. Does that sound good to you?"

"That sounds…" blonde eyebrows pulled down in thought. "Nice. Okay."

"Brilliant." Seto said, opening the limo door for her. "I'll text you the details later."

"Okay." The blonde said, climbing into the limo with the brunette right behind her. The trip to her si- _half_ sister's house was quiet and somewhat tense. When they finally pulled up to the curb, she gave a sigh of relief. "See you later, Seto."

"Same here, puppy." The brunette said the nickname quietly, but the blonde heard it none-the-less. As the limo door shut and the car sped off, Josi was left there, standing in the cold of night.

All she could think about was how stupid she'd been.

o0O0o

It took hours for his friend to return home, but once he did, Joey was on him in a flash, screaming, "YUGI!"

"What, Joey?" Yugi answered, pulling off his wig and gathering up his clothes. It was obvious that his mind was in another place. Normally when the blonde was loud like this, he got a stern talking to. Now, the smaller barely gave him a passing glance. "Joey, did Kaiba ask you to a double date tomorrow?"

"What?" the blonde ran in, pausing at his friend's question. He… thought that S-Kaiba may have mentioned something like that… in passing… "Oh yeah, he did. Anyway, Yug'! I hafta tell ya-!"

"We need to make sure that we don't call each other by name, okay? We can't have them figuring us out by a slight slip up." Yugi continued as he closed the bathroom door behind him.

"I know dat, Yug' –but-!"

"And don't mention anything Josi or Yuki might not know."

"I know, Yug', Kaiba-he-!"

"Don't make up any stories in case we get the details mixed up."

"KAIBA KNOWS!" Joey interrupted loudly, cutting off his friend before Yugi could return the favor.

Silence prevailed for several minutes before the bathroom door swung open and Yugi flew out in only his pants. He grabbed the blonde by the collar to pull him down to his level, ignoring the yelp from Joey.

"What. Did. You. Say?" he whispered, his eyes wide with fear and possibly anger.

"Kaiba knows, Yug', he knows it's us." In the shock of the statement, Yugi's hands released him, the smaller teen freezing as his mind processed the information. Then he leapt into action, pacing the length of the living room as Joey took cover in a chair.

"How could he know? How did he figure it out? What did you do, Joey?" Yugi fumed, running his hands through his hair.

"Nothin'! No accents, no fightin'-nothin! I don' know how he figured it out!" the blonde said, cowering due to his friend's interrogation.

"And you're sure he knows?"

"Tink so…" The words, the nicknames, the sideways glances, there's no way that Kaiba couldn't know!

"Think so? You're going on a hunch?" Yugi looked at him skeptically.

"Hey! Dey've neva let me down before!" Joey defended. It was true. He relied on his gut in more situations than he could count, and he'd always come out on top. His instincts weren't something to laugh at.

"Good point, so what do we do? Do we go ahead and go on the date? Or do we cancel?" Yugi asked.

"THERE IS NO WAY YOU'RE CANCELING!" Serenity screeched. Both boys cowered away from her at the look on her face. They had no clue when she got home, but it obviously wasn't too long ago.

"But, sis' dey know! At least, I tink Seto does. It's just a hunch but…" Joey trailed off, cringing from his sister's glare.

"Since it's a hunch, don't worry about it." Serenity brushed it off, "I'm not about to let you violate the girl code just because of a 'hunch'!"

"Not j'st a 'hunch'..." Joey grumbled, but Yugi ignored him in favor of asking his own question.

"Girl code?"

"Yes. Girl code. The moment you two started your 'training' (cough-cross-dressing-cough), you had to live by the girl code. No insistent fighting, no violence unless necessary, and the free flow of feelings."

Whoops… Joey thought back to the five guys he had beaten up. Guess I broke that rule…

"And one rule in the girl code is no snap-break-ups over phones, emails, text or social networks!" Serenity huffed.

"Well, that's great and all, but we're in a bit of trouble if we don't break up with them –NOW!" Yugi pleaded, using his puppy dog eyes of doom.

"As in A.S.A.P.! Dey're onta us! Serenity~!" her brother whined, trying to make his sister see sense.

"No. Until they stop being 'Mr. Dream-boyfriend', you're stuck with them." Serenity crossed her arms.

"Kaiba 'nd me fight all da time." Joey pointed out.

"Yeah and Yami insists on being a jerk to me." Yugi added.

"Why can't we break up with them?" they both chimed, the stereo slightly creeping them out.

"Girl code. You can't unless I say you can." The red head chided before turning her head obstinately to the side. No way was she going to fall for the boys' ever-bettering puppy dog eyes, "It's not going to work. Best you just give it up."

Defeated, the boys sighed and went over what they could and couldn't do the next day. After picking out their outfits, Serenity laid out extra beds for the two whenever they decided to stop sulking in their little emo corners.

They were in for a long haul tomorrow.

o0O0o

Phantomworks: I think I know where the extra length from DT went.

Alice: where?

Phantomworks: here. It's so long! Anyway, please review!


	13. Chapter 13

Phantomworks: we're getting close to the end.

**Alice; or not.**

Phantomworks; I don't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic.

Chapter 13

"The view is lovely!" Yuki commented loudly.

It was Saturday, the day of their double-date, and the pair of couples found themselves in a park. A blanket had been spread out on top of a hill surrounded by flowers and colorful fall trees. It was the perfect place for a date.

"Yes, yes it is." Yami said, obviously not looking at their surroundings. Josi wanted to hurl in disgust for the way those red eyes stared at hi-her friend, checking out the girl as if she were the last bottle of water on earth.

Seto took a moment to bring that fact to his cousin's attention. Josi heard the other teen snap something back, but it was too quiet for her to hear. She barely heard Seto to start with, something about drooling and being an idiot.

"What's the matter?" Yuki asked innocently, having over heard the last statement where Josi couldn't. The incessant whispering behind them had drawn the two girl's attention away from the pretty scenery and onto the two boys who now looked quite flustered.

"Oh, uh… nothing?" Yami tried. Yuki raised a delicate eyebrow.

"He was going to suggest ice cream from the vendor down there, but he didn't want you to pay. Said that being your boyfriend gave him the right to pay for it." Seto easily covered for the shorter boy.

Josi had to hand it to the CEO. He could cover his cousin's mistake quite nicely. Seto must have had lots of practice.

"Ice cream sounds good!" Josi chimed in, going with the brunette's excuse. Hey, if she could get some free ice cream from the deal, she was all for it.

"You just ate two sandwiches and three brownies five minutes ago!" Yuki complained.

"I have a fast metabolism! Yu~ki!" Josi whined, trying not to think of the two hotdogs and a hamburger that she'd eaten before that. She was pretty sure most girls didn't eat that much.

"Don't worry p- Josi. I'll pay." Seto said, getting up to go down to the vendor.

Amethyst and amber eyes widened slightly before the two shared a look. There was no doubt about it. The CEO had been about to call Josi something else. Something that resembled a _dog_ comment.

They desperately needed to talk, but Yami was still there. Fortunately, he made an excuse for himself.

"Yuki? Would you like some ice cream?" Sennen asked.

Startled, she jerked her gaze to him before smiling and nodding, "Vanilla please."

"You two stay here; Seto and I will be right back." The crimson eyed teen said as he stood and walked off. Once the teen was out of sight, the two 'girls' fell into a deep and rather loud discussion.

"I told you they were onto us! But you didn't believe me!" Josi hissed, running a hand through her hair before cursing and trying to fix the extensions she had messed up.

"Yes I did! Serenity was the non-believer!" Yuki protested, wringing her fingers in her dress. They had ignored the blonde's gut instinct in favor of his sister's threats and now look at where they were.

Something had to be done.

"… We should shun her!" Josi finally decided. Face palming; Yuki cuffed the blonde's ear.

"Focus! We have to get out of here before our cover is-!"

"Ice cream." Seto announced suddenly, hands full with two cones. He was almost to the top of the hill and well within hearing distance.

"Eep!" both girls squeaked at his abrupt appearance.

"… What?" he asked, staring wide-eyed. Had he done something wrong? Mokuba had told him that he walked like a ghost, but he'd never thought much of it. Perhaps it scared people…?

"N-nothing!" Josi waved it off. Then she spotted the ice cream in Seto's hand and all but tackled him in order to get to them, "ICE CREAM!"

"Calm down! You're just like a little kid!" Seto teased. Smirking at his girl's pout, he handed over one cone, "Alright, already! Take it."

"YAY!" she cheered, snatching it out of his hand before he could change his mind. Giving it a hard look, she hesitated at the chocolate coating. "What flavor is it?"

"Find out." Seto challenged. Blinking, Josi found she could not deny the challenge and did just that.

Taking small nibbles out of the chocolate coating, her amber eyes widened with shock as she found the ice cream underneath, "Chocolate? My favorite!"

Turning bright gold eyes onto her… boyfriend, she beamed up at him. "How did you know?"

_Background check_. He thought, but aloud, the brunette said, "Good guess."

"The best!" Josi agreed enthusiastically, nibbling more on the chocolate to get to the cold dessert underneath. The frozen cream was already starting to melt, so she had to suck most of the melting liquid off so that she didn't dirty her hand or her dress. The hardened chocolate coat made it harder, but she found she didn't mind.

At that moment, Sennen came up with two of his own cones.

"Yuki, here's yours." Yami said, handing Yuki's to her. Thanking him, Yuki turned to stare at the scenery some more.

Suddenly, the two guys (guy-guys) were re-thinking the whole 'ice cream' thing. While Josi was content to nibble on the chocolate coating and suck out the melting ice cream, Yuki was happily licking patterns into the soft dessert.

Yep, definitely re-thinking that choice.

It took a couple minutes, but Josi realized that, while Seto had bought a cone for himself, he had yet to take a bite. In fact, Sennen hadn't either. Instead, they both stared at their… 'girlfriend', cones slowly melting in their hands. The girls started to feel awkward with the guys staring at them and not eating.

"Oh! Look at the time!" Yuki suddenly exclaimed, looking down at her invisible watch, "Josi! We'll be late for our shift! Come on!"

"What shift?" Seto asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. He pinned Josi with a stare, "I thought you said you got fired."

"Uh~ that was my second job! Don't worry about that!" Josi quickly lied, a nervous smile gracing her lips.

"Sorry to leave early, but we really must go!" Yuki tugged on Josi's sleeve to get her to her feet.

"Let us accompany you to…"

"No! We'll be fine! Don't worry about it!" Yuki interrupted the shorter of the two men. "Bye!"

"Uh, bye?" the men barely waved them off before the girls ran off. Silently, they stared after them, feeling the remnants of the 'torture' the girls had put them through.

"You get up first." Seto said, staring straight ahead as he willed his erection away.

"No, you." Yami countered, prompting the start of a glaring contest. This started a glare-off between the two that lasted long into the afternoon and would have gone on longer had the effects of the torture not worn off.

The girls themselves raced down the streets, pushing their way through a crowd of afternoon shoppers. Not in the least apologetic, they quickly found themselves outside of a familiar door. Pounding on the door, Yuki tapped her foot impatiently before ringing the doorbell several times.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" a girl shouted as she opened the door. The three stared at each other for a while.

"So." The redhead started. "How'd it go?"

The raven-haired 'woman' immediately started cursing as she pushed past the girl and into the house. The teen shot the blonde a look, as if to ask 'what's her problem'.

The blonde shrugged, "I told y'so."

o0O0o

phantomworks:….

**Alice; (glares)**

Phantomworks; (cowers)

**Alice; (GLARES)**

Phantomworks: OKAY, OKAY! I know it's short! But I wanted to keep the story line the same and it's really hard to add to the date! I thought I did good adding another 400 words!

**Alice; next time. More.**

Phantomworks: (cowers) please review!


	14. Chapter 14

Phantomworks: hello again!

**Alice: welcome back to this week's episode of Drama: Live!**

Phantomworks: we hope you enjoy the show.

**Alice: pw doesn't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic.**

Chapter 14

"Okay, this meeting has gone relatively well." Seto said. 'Relatively' meaning Mutou and his cousin weren't at each other's throats and his pup was cutely muddling through his lines. However, the fact that many weren't actually studying and memorizing their lines bothered him. What did they expect? Cue cards?

This wouldn't do.

"But due to everyone still _reading_ their lines," _with the exception of Mutou_, Seto thought, "I'm going to pair each of you with a partner that your character interacts the most with. Such as Lady Riku paired with our king."

"What!" Mutou and Yami stood up so fast that their seats screeched and slid backwards. Blue eyes glared at both until they sat back down.

"As I was saying…" Pointed glare, "I hope to have these pairings help you memorize your lines and effectively interact with your stage-partner. We only have three weeks until the performance, so I expect everyone to have their lines memorized the next time that we meet. Next meeting is Friday next week. That is all. I have your partners on a list here so come see me after you have gathered your things and before you leave."

"Cousin," Yami was the first to meet up with him, "You can't seriously be thinking of pairing me with-!"

"Yami, I already told you your partner. You will study with them and be civil. After all, she is your Lady Riku."

"_He_ isn't." Yami said, glaring, "Not in real life anyway."

"Sure, sure…" Seto brushed him off, "Just study and improve. Who knows? Maybe you'll learn something from him."

With that cryptic note, the CEO turned to other waiting actors and gave out their assigned partners. Watching his cousin stalk off to talk to his 'partner', blue eyes strayed to a familiar mop of golden hair.

Oh, his puppy was in for a treat.

o0O0o

_Wonder who I get?_ Joey pondered as he slowly moved up the line to their director. _Yug's already taken, so that leaves two of the other maids and that soldier guy, whatever his name was… Tori? Torimo? Torika? No, that's a girl's name…_

The blonde continued to play this little guessing game of his until he made it up to the front of the line and looked up to see blue eyes staring down at him. Swallowing a girly 'eep', the blonde stood stock still, awaiting his sentence.

"Since Toya is out with a cold for the rest of the week," Seto began, "I will be helping you with your script."

_Toya! That's his name!_ The blonde thought, proud of himself. Then he realized exactly what the CEO had said. Face pale, he shouted, "SAY WHAT!?"

"The soldier that your character interacts with the most is out for the week." Seto said, sighing deeply and acting as if he was extremely put out. "The maids have already been paired up and Mutou and my cousin are long gone. So I have taken it upon myself to help you learn your lines."

"T'anks, but no t'anks!" Joey growled. "I don' need yer help, rich boy!"

"Today's performance says otherwise." S-Kaiba stated with a gloating smirk. "As director, I need to make sure that this play is a success. You were the worst one today, so I'm making you my personal project. Consider yourself lucky."

"Luck my ***!" the blonde shouted, turning around to leave. "I don' have t'stand fer this!"

"I'm afraid you do." The CEO retorted, flipping the list over to address another actor. "If you want a ride to my house, you'll need to stand for a while."

"_Yer_ house?" the blonde paused. He'd never seen the inside of the brunette's house before, nor did he think anyone in their class had, except Sennen. The opportunity itself almost clawed at his curiosity.

"Yes." Blue eyes turned to him. "Unless you would rather study at your-?"

"NO!" Joey shouted, a little too fast. "I, er… I mean, no, yer house's cool."

Sharp eyes narrowed, but said nothing. "Fine. Stand there until I finish up with this."

Sighing, the blonde disobeyed him by sitting down in a chair instead of standing. Hey, it might be petty, but it's the little things in life that kept him going! And the look of exasperation on the CEO's face was hilarious!

o0O0o

The look of awe on Joey's face was hilarious, Seto decided.

When the limo had pulled up, the blonde had almost spazzed out, forgetting that Seto had taken 'Josi' in such a ride only a week or so prior. His pup had pushed and messed with every button in the thing, something Seto was sure he had been dying to do before.

The blatantly different personalities between Josi and Joey were almost astounding. Had Seto not known they were the same person, he would almost believe the whole charade.

Once Joey had settled down, the ride had been fairly quiet; the blonde working on homework and the CEO typing away on his laptop while sneaking glances at the other. The metal end of a pencil eraser was firmly lodged between the blonde's teeth by the time they finally stopped at the mansion.

The look on Joey's face was priceless.

"_You_ live _'ere_?!" gold eyes widened in awe as he got out of the limo to stand at the curb.

"Most of the time." The brunette answered. "I have a summer home in California where Mokuba and I hide from the presses."

"_California!?_" that seemed to amaze the blonde even more, as if he couldn't rationalize the thought of owning _two_ houses.

"… The surprise in your voice advises me from mentioning the other places." Seto stated calmly, walking up the walk way as the limo driver took the vehicle around back.

"_There're more!?_" Joey squeaked as he ran to catch up to the CEO.

_Just like a puppy_. Seto thought to himself as the blonde followed loyally. Opening the door, he pushed Joey to the side as a black blur tackled him to the ground. "Hello, Mokuba."

"Big Brother! I'm glad you're home!" a head filled with unruly raven locks popped up, a wide smile on his face. "How was school today? Mine was awesome! Hey, did you talk to-!"

A hand swiftly covered the younger boy's mouth as Seto interrupted the impending ramble. "My day was fine. Mokuba, I'd like you to meet Joseph Wheeler."

"Joey." The blonde automatically corrected, holding out a hand to shake. Grey eyes widened in shock.

"Wheeler, this is my brother, Mokuba." The brunette said as he maneuvered both himself and his brother to their feet.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Joey!" the younger squealed, grasping the blonde's hand and shaking it enthusiastically.

"Finally?" the blonde caught.

"Now we can stay up all night playing videogames!" The pre-teen continued, as if he hadn't heard Joey at all.

"No, you cannot." Seto stated. "Wheeler and I have business to take care of and you have homework to do."

"But… big brother…" watery grey eyes turned themselves onto the CEO, begging. Seto held strong for all of thirty seconds.

"Fine." He sighed. "You and Joey can play videogames."

"YES!" the younger fist-pumped.

"_If-!_" the CEO began, cutting off the younger's victory dance. "You finish all of your homework and _if_ the mutt memorizes his lines."

"Aw-!" Mokuba whined as he went back inside.

"I ain't no mutt, Kaiba!" Joey seethed as he followed the pre-teen in. The brunette couldn't help but sigh. Despite his earlier plans, this was going to be a very _long_ night.

o0O0o

"You sound like a robot." Kaiba stated from his lounge chair. The blonde whom the comment was targeted at, simply glared and stopped his pacing.

"Why don' _you_ try it, Moneybags?!" Joey threw the script to the ground in anger. They had been at it for all of half an hour and the blonde was getting nowhere. First, the CEO wanted him to memorize his lines, and _then_ he wanted him to say them with _feeling_! Joey wanted to yell 'choose one or th'other but I can't do both at once!'

Of course, he knew that would start a fight and right now, Kaiba was all he had to help him get better for the performance.

"I am not a character, Wheeler. I _have_ no lines." The brunette massaged his temples, wondering why he had done this to himself. Ah yes, the blonde looked so sexy when he was angry.

He was starting to believe he was a masochist.

"Don' matter!" the blonde huffed, "Use someone else's! Use Tori's r'whatever his name is!"

"Toya?" Kaiba offered helpfully. "The soldier?"

"Yeah! Him!" the blonde pointed sharply.

Sighing, the director picked up his copy of the script and flipped through to find the right page. Smirking to himself, he started. "Oh lightning that burns my very soul, what may be of my Hanami? Be she living or be she sleep? I bid thee her life to keep."

Joey stared at the words that seemed to roll off of the page and fall into the air in such a way that the blonde could _hear_ the longing and agony that the soldier was experiencing. A pointed look from blue eyes had him finding his place in the script.

"Bid thee hard, for my breath is shallow. Surely, I will not see the morrow." Joey read, falling into a different pitch. He tried to keep from the 'Josi' pitch as he called it, not wanting to prove the CEO right. "Nor light of the morning sun upon my cheek. Come morning, my earthly flesh shall, of death, reek."

"Blessed maid and love of mine heart, why must in death we part?" the brunette walked up slowly, pace calm and even as he stalked his prey. Blue eyes shone with something that would have scared the blonde, had he looked up from his script. "Nay, I say, nay indeed, would I have had my way, we t'would be married."

"Your way is naught, for the warlock's spell. You enjoyed your life, now end it well." Blonde eyes looked up from his script to find the brunette mere inches from his face.

"End well, you say? Then would I, if I may? Take one kiss and steal your breath away?" the words were spoken with the utmost sincerity that Joey didn't have an answer, not even the one in the script. Sapphire and gold melded together as the two teens stared into each other's eyes. Ever so slightly, they leaned closer together.

Then Joey realized what he was doing.

"This is stupid!" he yelled, pulling away sharply and backpedalling several steps.

"And you broke character." The CEO sighed before returning to his seat.

"Broke character?!" the blonde griped. "We were about t'- an' all ya worry 'bout is _me breakin' character_?!"

"The point of being an actor is to bring the character to life, _live_ as their role." The brunette pointed out. "You're not doing that."

"Maybe it's 'cause I don' wanna!" the blonde yelled, pulling at his hair. "I've lived long enough in Hanami's shoes! I don' wanna do it anymore!"

"It's only been a few weeks, Wheeler." Kaiba gritted his teeth. "You can do it for a few more."

"You don' get it!" the blonde yelled. "_No one_ gets it!"

"Gets what?" Kaiba asked, suspiciously.

"I'm sick v'it!" the blonde yelled. "'M sick an' tired of bein' trapped in a cage wit' no way out! 'M tired o'death bein' th'only thing I look forward t'!"

Blue eyes widened as broken gold fell on him. The blonde's voice fell from its louder pitch. "I'm tired o'bein' _Hanami_. 'M tired o'bein' _me_."

o0O0o

phantomworks: and now it's a heart to heart.

**Alice; there will be a lemon in this, right?**

Phantomworks: maybe… after the play.

**Alice: what about during?**

Phantomworks: OOOhhh! I like that idea! Anyways, please review!


	15. Chapter 15

Phantomworks: here we are again!

**Alice; second chapter in a week? Wow.**

Phantomworks: I don't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic.

Chapter 15

Seto stared in silence for several minutes as his mind processed the words. "You're tired… of being you?"

That didn't compute in his head.

"'M tired o'_Joey Wheeler_." The blonde said. "Someone else c'n have my place so long as I don'got t'be th'guy no one wanted!"

"Wheeler… Joey, that's not true." Seto consoled, awkwardly trying to comfort the blonde. "There are a lot of people that care for you!"

"Oh yeah?! Like _who_!?" molten gold focused on him. "My Ma? Who divorced my Dad 'cause'o his problems? Who took my sista away an' left me b'hind? Who won't spare a second t'_talk_ t'me because _I look like her ex-husband?!_"

"Uh-!"

"Or maybe my Dad?" the blonde gave a humorless laugh. His arms crossed over his chest as a means of defense against the world and comfort to his broken soul. "Th'man who goes out drinkin' every night til he can't tell right from left? Who gambles away money we don' have t'make profits he'll never spend? Who takes my only joy in life an' slings mud on it without an'ther thought?!"

"Joey, I-!"

"I can't stand it!" calloused hands dug into dirty golden locks, fingers digging at his scalp as he finally let everything out. "I already have 'nough trouble balancin' school an' th'jobs I get to pay th'bills an' put food on th' table. Jobs I'm not s'pposed t'have anyway! So if th'school finds out, I'm screwed. If my work finds out, I'm _screwed_. An' if neither find out, I'll work 'til I'm dead an' I'll still be SCREWED!"

Tears ran freely down his cheeks as he tried desperately to breathe. It felt like the entire world was on his shoulders, something that no teenager should have to experience. It was crushing him, chipping him apart little by little until there would be nothing left but dust. That's what he felt like right now.

And he _hated_ it.

There was a moment of silence where Seto thought he might be able to interrupt. Cautiously, he started, "I-!"

"An' don't you even _think_ of sayin' 'I understand' 'r 'I'm so sorry'!" the blonde ripped his hands from his head to point at the CEO menacingly. "I don' need pity an' I don' need lies! There may be people that unda'stand, but you, wit' yer fancy house an'freakin' _company_, ain't one o'them! I bet yer Dad an' Ma are just on Cloud 9 'cause they have _you_ as a son!"

The last word ended on a sharp note. Joey stood there, still pointing at the CEO that stared on coolly, calm exterior without a crack. On the other hand, the blonde was breathing furiously, hair messed up and eyes flaming as he finally spoke his own mind. Now, to wait for the brunette's reaction.

Blue eyes stared at him calmly as the other crossed his arms, "Are you done?"

A simple question, spoken in the tone of an adult to a child throwing a tantrum. The tone alone had Joey bristling, but he couldn't help but realize that he had done exactly that. He had thrown a tantrum and his rival had been the one to see it. His hand dropped back down to his side as shame hit him in the gut.

Unable to look the CEO in the eye, the blonde muttered a quiet, "Yeah."

"Now, I need to ask you a question." Seto said, "Do you see any parental figures here?"

Startled, the blonde looked around before giving a confused, "No?"

"Have you _ever_ seen any parental figures with either me or Mokuba?" Seto asked, keeping the same, even tone. "Anyone in the papers or on TV?"

Taking a minute to go through his memories, Joey gave another quiet, "No…"

"That is because we do not _have_ parental figures, Joey." Seto said, voice falling a bit lower as blue eyes gave up their blonde target for the floor. "At the age of ten and five, our parents got into a car wreck that landed both of us in an orphanage. We were there for about a year before fate struck."

Big, golden eyes blinked in confusion.

"I will assume that you know who Gozaburo Kaiba is?" a nod prompted the teen on. "On the day that Gozaburo came to our orphanage, I was lucky enough to get his attention, or unlucky enough, depending on how you look at it. I challenged him to a game of chess with my and Mokuba's adoption as a wager. Needless to say, I won through… alternative methods."

"So at th'age of eleven, you were a cheatin' B*******." Joey summed up. He got a blue-eyed glare for his interruption.

"Gozaburo knew of my methods, but took me and Mokuba in anyway." Seto said, his fist tightening against his arm. "The next few years I was… home-schooled by Gozaburo and trained in everything I would ever need to know to run the Kaiba Corporation. Most nights, I wasn't allowed to sleep, sometimes even eat until I had done everything he asked of me."

The blonde swallowed thickly, not liking where this was going.

"Though he was my 'father' he held no love for either me or Mokuba, often times pitting us against each other to make 'progress' as he called it. He did not want a son, merely someone that he could use to further his purposes." The CEO glared at the ground, as if to make it burst into flames. "It was not the life I would have chosen for myself, should I be able to change the past. However, it is who I am now and I am not going to let that interfere with my life."

Suddenly, blue eyes targeted Joey again, making the blonde flinch at their intensity. The CEO uncrossed his arms, leaning back against the chair he had claimed and giving the blonde a calculating look.

"So tell me, Joey, are you going to act out the 'script' that fate has given you? Or are you going to make something of your character?" Seto said, resting his chin in one hand. "Because if you continue to follow the road laid out, you will have a very different end to your story than Hanami had.

At a blank stare from the blonde, Seto continued. "Hanami chose to be more than a simple servant to her queen. She chose to remain with her friend and travel a great distance into the unknown. She chose to love one of noble standing even though she knew it would not work. She chose to make her own path in life."

"An' look where it got her!" Joey huffed. "Dead in th'middle of a desert with her so-called 'noble lover'."

"But where would she be if she had chosen differently?" Seto raised an eyebrow. "If she had stayed at Lady Riku's home and kept up the castle for the family? Would she have wondered what would have happened should she have gone? Would she ever find a different love? Would her life end alone?"

Golden eyes dropped to the floor, thinking hard.

"Hanami made a choice that brought her much in life, even if it ended up taking it. If it had been any other way, she would not have made the story. She would have been passed over in favor of another and her life would be left in shadows." Seto said, watching his puppy's eyebrows furrow in thought.

"But… what if…there's no choice t'make?" the blonde asked so quietly that Seto barely heard it. He doubted the blonde had wanted him to and knew that the pup wasn't expecting an answer.

Before he could reply, the doors burst open and Mokuba rushed in. "Joey! The cooks say that the food is done! Are you and Seto done? 'cause then we can eat and you and I can play videogames and-! Joey?"

"Y-yeah! I'm fine!" the blonde quickly scrubbed his face of the tears that had started to dry on his skin. No doubt his eyes were red, but he didn't expect Mokuba to bring it up as excited as the teen was. "So what was this that I heard about food?"

"Wheeler, we aren't done practicing." Seto said sternly.

"Aw, come on, big brother!" Mokuba whined. "Some down time is good! It helps with mentality or something like that! Please!"

Seto kept his gaze far away from the Puppy Dog Eyes of Doom. "We have a little more, maybe an hour at most and then you two can run off to play videogames. I need to get work done anyways."

"AWESOME!" Mokuba shouted as he raced down the hallway, presumably to the dining room where they would eat.

"Er, Kaiba?" Joey looked at the CEO. "I got work in 'bout an hour."

"How much do they pay you?" Seto asked as he started down the hallway.

"What?"

"How _much_ do they _pay_ you?"

"Um… minimum wage?" the blonde questioned, trying to find the reasoning behind the brunette's questions.

"I'll pay you double that if you call in sick and keep Mokuba out of my hair." That stopped the blonde in his tracks. He had _never_ heard of a babysitting job that offered _that_ price!

"What?" Seto asked, looking back. "Is it not enough?"

"Not enough?" Joey parroted, face going red. "Stupid rich people and their infinite wallets!"

Watching the blonde brush past him as he held the door open to the dining room, Seto could only stare after his puppy and wonder just what he had done to make Joey mad this time.

O0O0o

Joey did end up calling work and moving his shift to another day for 'family reasons' and hung out with Mokuba. It didn't take much to distract the kid as a videogame and controller seemed to be like catnip to any teenager.

Around ten o'clock, the brunette had told the raven haired pre-teen to go to bed, which started an argument/debate on the pros and cons of staying up late, which turned into a full-out shouting match of '_but __**you**__ get to stay up late!_'.

Needless to say, Joey wished he could have filmed the whole thing.

"And that should cover it for tonight." Kaiba said, handing a wad of cash over to the blonde. "Thanks for doing that."

"No prob. Wouldn't mind doin' it 'gain some time!" Joey smiled brightly, pocketing the cash. He was already going over the bills he would pay with it as well as the grocery list when a thought crossed his mind.

Seto Kaiba and Joey Wheeler had been in the same house for over four hours _without destroying it _or either being_ killed!_ And now they were having a civil conversation. Speaking of conversation…

"Hey, Kaiba?" Joey looked up at the CEO, finding that he had his full attention. "What we said back there…"

"It won't leave the room." Seto agreed, watching the blonde relax.

Sighing, Joey's grin widened. "T'anks."

"No problem." Seto said as he closed the door. Only to keep it opened a crack to watch the blonde walk off into the night.

o0O0o

**Alice; okay, I need to ask, who is the love-sick puppy here?**

Phantomworks: … it's sad, I'm writing this and _I_ don't even know…

**Alice; you should fix that.**

Phantomworks: oh well. Please review!


	16. Chapter 16

Phantomworks: hey everyone! Sorry this update has taken so long!

**Alice: Pw's finally in college!**

Phantomworks: so saying, I can't guarantee weekly updates anymore. I'll try to finish these two stories quickly, but I'm not making any promises.

**Alice: PW doesn't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic.**

Chapter 16

"Everyone seems to have improved thanks to the pairings." Seto said. The weekend had passed without any kidnappings or enemy corporation takeovers and his puppy had finally memorized the lines he needed for the play. "With that being said; I have gathered us here at the theatre for fitting and dry rehearsals."

"Dry rehearsals?" Joey questioned.

"Whatever you flimsy acting types call it." The CEO said, unable to help a small jab at the blonde. It was all in good fun, but it still got those golden eyes flickering.

"It's 'dress' rehearsals an' I AIN'T FLIMSY!" Joey steamed, stomping his foot much like a girl would. Hmm… maybe spending so much time as Josi _wasn't_good for the blonde. Oh well, Seto still liked him anyway.

"Of course you're not." The brunette snickered.

"Grr…!" the blond growled, much like an angry pup before his smaller friend dragged him off.

"Now, now, Joey. We wouldn't want to hurt that pretty little face of yours just two weeks before the big night, right?" Yugi gave him an 'I'm-serious' look causing Joey to gulp and instantly settle down.

There were times to get Yugi angry, and there were other times where you simply _didn't_. This was one of those times. Nodding his agreement hurriedly, Joey edged away from his friend's small form. His pal smiled brightly. "Good."

"Yugi!" some girls called out to him. The smaller teen looked over to see Sennen in his tyrant outfit, all black leather and shiny bling. Normally, Joey would have laughed at the mere sight of it –it looked so ridiculous! Yet on the 'King of the School', the outfit couldn't have looked more right.

Unless it had been on Seto.

_Wait a minute…_ Joey paused at the thought, wondering where it came from and if it was even true. He zoned out while the two look-a-likes had what he had come to call a 'lover's spat' and only came too when several girls shouted.

"YUGI!"

"What?" said teen's head jerked up.

Effectively distracted, the petite teen didn't notice Joey quickly hiding behind some random play props. The blonde had seen the look in those girls' eyes; he knew exactly what was about to happen. And, by the paling of the smaller teen's face, so did Yugi.

"Nononononono_**nono**_NO!" Yugi whimpered, trying to escape, but all attempts were ruined by the tyrant king who laughed at the other's expense. The girls jumped him, dragging him towards the dressing room.

_I am so __**glad**__I am not him right now._ Joey thought as he watched the scene with wide eyes. Somehow, Yugi had latched onto Sennen and seemed to be pleading for help. The strangest look came over the taller man's face, making Joey wonder what it was that Yugi had said.

Then Sennen's pants were on the ground.

_So glad I'm not __**him**__either._ The blonde thought with a snicker. Apparently, that gave away his hiding place as two other costume girls came up to him, arms crossed and feet tapping. Cringing, he looked to where Yugi had disappeared. Not wanting to make a scene like his friend had, the blonde merely gave a nervous smile.

"'M next, ain't I?" it wasn't even a question. The girls simply pointed to a dressing room and motioned for him to go. Getting up, he started towards it before pausing, "Er, c'n I have Room Three?"

The two girls looked at each other before shrugging. One grabbed his costume and the other grabbed his make-up supplies before marching him down to the other room. Once inside, they ordered him to strip and re-dress in the clothes provided. Making sure their backs were turned, the blonde did just that.

His outfit ended up being similar to a maid's costume, though nothing nearly as fancy some of the things he'd seen in Playboy magazines. It was simple enough, a dark blue color that would look professional yet slimming and compliments the red-colored wig he would have to wear. The dress was long, reaching down his arms and to about mid-calf with stockings that covered up the rest of his legs.

An off-white apron went over the front and crossed in the back, making the whole outfit look a lot more appealing than first thought. His accessories included a pair of black shoes and a blue bow to put in the wig's hair. With that, his costume was complete.

As soon as he was dressed, the girls turned around and squealed happily.

"I knew it was the right fit!" the first said, coming over to prod his arms and sides, making sure that the dress fit where it was supposed to. "And you thought I was insane!"

"Well how was I supposed to know!? I don't have a model in my head like you do!" the other hissed back, as if Joey wasn't in the room with them. "Besides! It was fifty-fifty! It could have been too big or too small and would have _never_ worked!"

"Oh can it, you Negative Nancy!" the first grumbled back, pinning the dress in a few places to give him more of a shape.

"Umm…" Joey almost wished he hadn't brought attention to himself when they both shot up at the noise.

"You." The second said, turning to her make-up kit.

"Yeah?" The ex-blonde asked, uncertain.

"You don't look like a girl." She said simply.

"Well, I'm kind of a guy, so…"Joey trailed off, gesturing with his hands.

"No, she's saying that you need to look more like a girl, like Hanami." The first said, smiling sweetly.

"What're you sayin'?"

"What I'm saying," the second turned around with two very familiar objects in her hands, "How do you feel about bra pads?"

Joey paled.

o0O0o

Seto stood outside of Dressing Room Three with his arms crossed, his finger tapping against his arm impatiently. His puppy had snuck over while he had been busy with other director responsibilities, so he hadn't seen the outfit his blonde would be wearing. Now, no one could say that the CEO was impatient, but he had a certain… investment wherever the blonde came in.

Finally, the door opened… only for two girls to come out.

Peering around them, the brunette found the rest of the room empty. Frowning, he addressed the two. "Where is Wheeler?"

"Joey?" the first asked, looking up oh-so-innocently.

"The one who plays Hanami?" the second had a similar tone, both hiding something. Eyes narrowing, Seto nodded.

"Oh, he didn't want you to see him and have black mail material." The first said, oh-so-sweetly.

"So he went out the back door of the dressing room and asked us not to tell you until he had a good head-start." The second smiled a sickeningly sweet grin.

That devious little-!

"Have fun playing hide and seek!" the two girls giggled as they ran off before the director could 'fire' them. Fuming, Seto grit his teeth, fighting back the anger before focusing on his objective.

He _would_ find his puppy and he _would_ take pictures to commemorate this day, even if they only ended up in his bed-side dresser.

o0O0o

Joey peered around a corner, searching both ways to make sure the coast was clear. He'd left the dressing room about five minutes ago, so the CEO should still be waiting outside it to humiliate him.

That being said, the ex-blonde almost gave away his hiding place when he saw his friend march over to a dumb-struck Sennen and kick him in the shins. The action caused the 'tyrant' to hop on one leg, cursing loudly and singing his pain. Once his friend had stormed off, Joey came over, laughing at the 'king's' expense.

"Yep, should've seen that coming!" Yami grunted as he sat, nursing his wounded limb. Joey mused slightly that the teen wouldn't have been able to do that if the blow had been any _higher_.

"Yeah, ya should've." Bringing attention to himself, Joey and Sennen entered a little staring match as the smaller looked him over. There was a small light of recognition in the darker teen's eyes that made the ex-blonde's fidget, but it was gone soon enough.

"Shouldn't you be bothering the director, Jo-mph!"

"SH-H!" Joey smacked his hands over Yami's mouth, looking around wildly to make sure Seto hadn't heard. "Can't ya see 'm hidin'? Dere's no way 'm lettin' him see me like dis! I'll neva hear da end of it!"

"I see…" Yami said, peeling the red-wig-wearing blonde's hands off his face. Red eyes glanced over the ex-blonde's shoulder. "Then you may want to move. He's coming this way."

"Eep!" Joey squeaked before racing off. He didn't even look behind him to see Seto stormed up to his cousin.

"Really? You warned him? How am I supposed to get pictures like this?" Seto fumed, showing off a camera in his hand. Really, what was with everyone picking on him? All he wanted was pictures of his blonde puppy in a dress! Is that too much to ask for?!

"You'll figure it out." Yami shrugged, "Have fun. He ran off in that direction."

"Thank you so much." The CEO drawled sarcastically.

"You're welcome." Yami chirped. This stopped the CEO short. His cousin was never this care-free before, especially with the play only two weeks off. Not only that, but he had sustained an injury from _Mutou _of all people and the two _hadn't_ gotten into a fight. Something was off.

"You're happier than normal." He stated. His cousin cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"I am?" he asked, obviously oblivious. Red eyes blinked at him curiously. The brunette thought about pressing his point before deciding he didn't care.

That and his blonde puppy was getting a better head start the longer he talked.

"Never mind." Seto said, turning to look for his puppy instead. Oh yes, _his_ puppy, indeed. If his plan went right, then he would own the little blonde pup by the end of the play, or he wasn't Seto Kaiba.

o0O0o

Phantomworks: and there you go. That'll have to hold you for now!

**Alice; but we want more!**

Phantomworks: maybe after freshmen orientation. Till then, this is Phantomworks, signing off!


	17. Chapter 17

Phantomworks: yay! I made a week!

**Alice: this time.**

Phantomworks: still not promising anything! I don't own Yugioh or its characters, only this fanfic.

Chapter 17

"This is getting too dangerous!" Yugi ranted as he stormed down the sidewalk. Joey shrunk away from the steaming teen. "If we run around dressed like girls during rehearsals, they're _bound_ to find out!"

"I hear ya! But sis' won't-!"

"I don't care if she won't let us! I'm not putting up with this any longer!" Yugi shouted, shoving the door to his house open.

"Putting up with what?" a sweet voice asked. Both boys froze right inside the door way, their eyes bugging out of their head. Serenity cocked her head to the side, smiling innocently, "Is there a fact you want to argue about you-know-who?"

"You! How did you get into my house?!" Yugi jabbed an accusing finger at her just as Joey began to wonder the same thing. He hadn't taught her how to pick locks yet, right?

"Through the shop. Your grandfather is a really nice man." She smiled again before her face darkened accusingly. Joey subtly put Yugi between his sister and himself. "I heard what you were saying. I'm not going to let you simply break up with them."

"But, Ren, it's getting' too dangerous! Durin' dress rehearsals, we go 'round dressed as girls! If dat isn't obvious, I d'n'know what is!" Joey argued stubbornly.

"You'll be fine." She insisted.

"No Serenity, you don't understand." Yugi argued, "I look like Yuki with blonde hair! Yami even recognized it! We can't keep this up much longer!"

At this, Serenity's eyebrows furrowed thoughtfully, "I think I'm beginning to understand now… but you still can't! It's against the girl code!"

"Serenity." Yugi said seriously, a sad look in his eyes, "We may dress as girls in order to trick Yami and Seto, but you have to remember! We aren't girls! We're _guys_!"

Blinking, Serenity stared at them for awhile before giving a defeated sigh, "Okay, but we have to be strategic about the break ups so that they won't try to find you. Some men like to stalk their ex-s"

Joey and Yugi nodded. The blonde gave a shiver at the thought of Seto stalking him. For a billionaire, it would be all too easy…

"What you'll do is drop little hints during dates and then when the last showing of your play ends, you'll break up with them saying that you were only here to see your cousin's/half-brother's play. You'll tell them that you're leaving the next day and aren't good with long distance relationships. With that, you should be able to make a clean break up."

"We have ta wait dat long?!" Joey whined, coming out of his hiding spot behind his friend.

"What if they-?!" Yugi was cut off by a stern glance.

"If you break up too soon, they'll know something's up! They'll get suspicious and find out anyway. Trust me, this is the best way to break-up!" she pressured.

"Fine." The boys relented.

"Good, now I hope you two aren't too emotional." She said cryptically.

"Why?" Yugi asked.

"Because it's time to break some hearts."

O0O0o

"What have I been doing wrong?"

Seto looked up from his script to give his cousin a curious look. "What?"

"With Yuki, she's been dropping hints that she wants to break up! What have I been doing wrong?" Yami reiterated.

"How should I know? What have you been doing?" the CEO spared a brief glance in his cousin's direction. The teen had been acting differently, but he couldn't understand why. Was it because of Yuki or…?

"Well, we talk about Yugi a lot on dates. About how he and I are friends now and what he likes to do. And during these talks, she drops the hints. I don't understand it…"

Seto wanted to smack himself or, more importantly, his _cousin_ for his stupidity. Didn't the other realize how gay that sounded? Not that Seto would be surprised…

Honestly, how had Yami _not_ connected the dots yet?

"I think you may need to re-evaluate your relationship with Yugi."

Yami's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"What you're telling me is that the two of you are now friends, right? And you talk about him all the time to a girlfriend, who's dropping hints to break up?"

"Yeah, and…?"

"It sounds to me like you like Yugi more than you realize." Seto said, smirking at his cousin's blatant confusion/denial, "Anyway, I've got my own problems. Josi is acting the same, but she doesn't know that I won't let her go."

"How are you going to make her stay?" Yami questioned, distracted from his own problems.

"I can be… persuasive when I want to be." Seto's smirk widened, "You go on in ten."

"Ugh! Aren't we done yet?!" Yami whined, slouching in his seat backstage.

"Not until you kill the sorcerer and your kingdom falls, _my king_." Seto said, "Be glad you didn't only have ten minutes to look over the script. Since guard #1 got sick, I have to take his place."

"Heh-heh! You have to kiss Wheeler." Yami grinned tauntingly.

"I know." Seto said with a strange expression on his face. Inwardly, he wanted to sing and do a happy dance, but he knew as Seto Kaiba, he could not afford to act foolishly. So he simply smiled instead.

"What do you-?"

"I'm on." Seto interrupted standing and sauntering off to kiss his puppy onstage. He found the blonde frozen at the side of the stage, unable to take that last step from darkness into the spotlights. "Wheeler, what's wrong?"

Wide-eyes turned to him, stricken with fear. "I can't do it."

"What do you mean you can't do it?" blue-eyes narrowed dubiously. "You went out on stage just yesterday and performed just fine."

"Yeah, but dat was wit'Tori!" Joey hissed back, tugging at his dress nervously. "An' he literally _dragged_ me on stage!"

"Toya." Seto corrected automatically. "And you can't seriously be telling me that you have _stage fright_."

Golden eyes looked from him to the stage, then out to the crowd of theater goers. True, there were twice as many people here today as there were yesterday, but the spotlights prevented you from seeing them! Mostly… a few rows of the front could be seen…

"Just do it like you did with me at my house." Seto said, giving the teen a nudge.

"Y'mean spill my guts an' life story t'th'whole theater?" the 'redhead' scowled. "No way!"

"Fine!" Seto sighed, "I don't care how you act! Act like _Josi_ for all I care! Just _get out there!_"

With a shove, the servant suddenly found himself front and center with a theater full of patiently waiting people. Taking a deep breath and calming himself, Joey lowered his eyes to the floor, where a servant's eyes were meant to be and slowly strolled to mid-stage.

Seeing his cue, Seto came forth.

"What, might I ask, is a lady such as yourself doing out at this time of night?" he asked, voice echoing back at him from the speaker hidden in his collar.

As if startled, whether he truly was or not, Joey spun around, his dress flying. No, not Joey. _Hanami_.

"Oh, Sir Sayo." The redhead sighed lightly, in a tone that made Seto's eyes widen. Joey sounded _exactly_ like Josi, looks like he took his suggestion to heart. "I had not expected meeting you out here."

"I would say the same for you." Seto stepped forward, slowly crossing the stage to where the feminine figure stood. "Is there a reason for you late night stroll?"

"Just… clearing my head." The servant wrapped her arms around herself as if to fend off the chill of the night. "That meeting with your king was… not the most serene of conversations that I have heard."

"I cannot criticize my king." Seto said, "Yet I know that, though he may be harsh, he has everyone's best interests at heart."

"Best interests… feh." The redhead's voice suddenly grew cold. "The only interests he has at heart are his own."

"Excuse me?" Seto took a step back in mock-surprise.

"A month is hardly adequate for a lady of Miss Riku's standing." Hanami whirled on him angrily.

"I apologize, but it is as the King commands." Seto defended, face growing stern.

"As the King commands." Joey spat, eyes narrowing at the words much like he had in practice. Yet with Josi's voice, it sounded far more spiteful. "The King has no right to order around those that are his citizens! He is to protect and care for them! Not demand unreasonable acts!"

"The King is well within his rights to demand anything he pleases!" Seto felt slightly empty at the words. Wouldn't he be doing the same if he were in the king's position? After all, 'Josi' was trying to get away and he knew that he couldn't let that happened. "Besides, is marriage really such an unreasonable act? Lady Riku will be taken care of and provided for, for the rest of her life!"

"But she will never be happy." Golden eyes fell to the ground again forlornly, a sympathizing sadness in their depths. "Such is the life of one in a gilded cage. You may make it as beautiful as you wish, but a prison is still a prison."

The teen paused appropriately before speaking softly. "You speak as if from prior knowledge."

"The life of a servant is not one of a plush life, not even when you are your mistress's dearest friend." At that, the redhead turned away fully. "I am sorry, my lord, I did not mean to put my troubles onto you, nor did I mean to insult your king."

"…If the king were to hear what you have said, your punishment would be more than not accompanying Lady Riku on her journey." Seto said, pausing before sighing, "But I understand what you say."

"You do?"

"A servant's life is not one that many live." Seto stepped forward, placing a gentle hand on the other's cheek. "But it is not as different from a knight's as you might think."

At that moment, blue and gold connected, remembering their previous conversation as understanding flowed between them. Their silence was broken by the sound of a bell, signaling midnight.

"My apologies, I must turn in for the night." The redhead pulled away, cheeks slightly flushed.

Reclaiming his hand, Seto bowed, "Very well. I assume that we will see each other again?"

"I shall be around." Joey smiled balefully. "The help always is."

With that, the servant turned, skirt fluttering as she exited stage left. Waiting the appropriate time limit, the knight couldn't help but stare after his princess, his _servant princess_, as she walked away.

o0O0o

Phantomworks: okay, I know that it ends in the middle of the play while the other doesn't, and I don't have a reason other than it was getting long and I was tired of typing.

**Alice: lazy.**

Phantomworks; anyway, I feel as if there are only three or so chapters left for the one reviewer who asked. That being said, look forward to Alley Cats as Delicious Deceit's replacement! Thank you and please review!


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